


Oh, Baby

by MiyaWritesThings



Series: New Planet, New Life [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Earth, Depression, Disapproving Family, Eating Disorders, Engagement, F/M, Fluff, Honeymoon, Hospitalization, Human/Troll Hybrids, Marriage, Mentions of Cancer, Miscarriage mention, Pregnancy, Pregnant, Smoking, Teen Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-30
Updated: 2014-04-15
Packaged: 2017-12-25 01:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 48,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/947118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiyaWritesThings/pseuds/MiyaWritesThings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vriska and John, ages 19 and 20, are engaged and ready to take on the world together. Everything they've planned for their wedding is perfect...but then something happens when they least expect it. Or, in other words, Vriska somehow ends up pregnant. Rated T for themes and language.</p><p>Takes place about a year after I'd Only Choose You.  Side pairings include (major) Karezi, Rosemary, and hinted DaveJade.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First off, I don't even know where I got the inspiration to write this.
> 
> Also, somehow over time my mind has warped everyone's personalities. I usually try to correct it if I know it's OOC, but please point things out if you notice anything wrong.
> 
> This is also on FanFiction, under the same title and pen name.

Vriska Serket had found herself living on Earth. Now, normally that wouldn't be anything weird, but in Vriska's case it was different.

Vriska was from another planet.

Now, how did she end up on Earth, you ask? Well, Vriska had some friends (if you could even call them friends). Those friends were named Terezi and Karkat.

Terezi and Karkat had come to Earth a year earlier and gotten married. Vriska was chosen to be the maid of honor in their wedding. And guess who just so happened to be the best man?

John Egbert.

Vriska had the tiniest crush on him when they were younger. But finally getting to see him in person reignited their feelings toward each other.

The two became boyfriend and girlfriend pretty quickly. While Karkat and Terezi were on their honeymoon in Los Angeles, John helped Vriska move into her new apartment. She had also gotten a job as a waitress at the same American Chinese bistro where Terezi worked. The pay was average for that of a waitress, but the owner and manager of the restaurant, Andrea Wilson-Lee, was a very generous woman and often gave bonuses to the employees who really needed it.

Vriska Serket had finally begun to fit in on Earth. But soon, something would change that.


	2. Engaged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY, FOR FUTURE REF:
> 
> I can't come up with chapter titles for my life. That's why they're so horrible, although this one is fine.

**-July 11, Pipe Lake-**

"Vriska, c'mon!" John laughed as he continued to drag his girlfriend towards the docks. "My dad's boat is in this boathouse!"

John had invited Vriska to go boating with him. It was the weekend after the Fourth of July, so the lake would be pretty safe. Since he and his dad lived close to Pipe Lake, his dad owned a small boathouse to keep the boat and jetski in.

The dark-haired human unlocked the door and jogged over to a wall panel to flip a switch that lowered the boat. "Vris, you've been on a boat before, right?"

"Of course!" Vriska took a sip of her can of Coke.

"Could you throw a couple of life vests into the boat?"

The troll turned around, grabbed some life vests off a wall hook, and tossed them into the boat.

"Well, are you ready?" John hopped down into the boat and stuck out his hand for Vriska.

"Alright!" She climbed into the speedboat and wobbled a bit, getting used to the rocking of the waves. John put the boat in reverse and started backing out of the boathouse.

After bumping into the sides once or twice, the boat finally pulled into the marina. It gained speed and the two cruised around for a bit. Soon the sky turned a golden yellow and John slowed the boat down. He completely stopped it and threw down the anchor.

"I never knew sunsets could be so beautiful," Vriska wondered aloud.

"It's perfect, isn't it?" John turned off the radio and the couple gazed at the sunset in silence. After a few minutes, John turned to face Vriska. "Um, Vriska..." He hesitated a bit.

"Yeah?"

"I know we haven't been dating for long, but I really like you. Not just like you, I love you."

"Aww, John, really?"

"Yeah. And I know we barely talked about this before, and I know you probably weren't planning on this so soon, but I think we're ready." John took a deep breath and turned around. As he turned back around, he slowly flashed a small velvet box...and got down on one knee.

"Oh my god," Vriska breathed.

"Vriska Serket..." John said the troll's name loudly and proudly.

"...will you do the honors of becoming my wife?"

"Yes!" Vriska threw her arms around John. The force of impact knocked the box out of his hands...and into the lake.

The couple just stared at each other before jumping into the water simultaneously. "I've got it!" John held up the box, tightly gripped by his hand. He climbed back into the boat and lowered the ladder so Vriska could climb in. Laughing, he slid the ring onto her finger and gave her a kiss.

The now-engaged couple drove back to the Egberts' house, blasting the AC on high to dry themselves off a little more.

"Welcome back," Mr. Egbert said as the two came into the kitchen. "How was everything?"

John looked back at Vriska. "Well?"

She beamed, holding up her left hand. "We're engaged!"

"Wow, so soon?...!" John could tell his father wasn't too thrilled about them getting engaged so soon and so young.

"We've known each other longer than you think." John hugged Vriska's shoulder.

John's dad laughed a little, his grimace now turning into more of a smile.

Though Vriska didn't know Mr. Egbert too well at the time, he eventually got used to her. He never seemed to care that she was a troll - other than the grey skin and horns, she seemed pretty normal to him. Being only eight sweeps old - equivalent to eighteen years at the time of her engagement to John - Vriska had the tendency to act immature. Very immature at times. Vriska also had the tendency to wear revealing clothing such as booty shorts and tight t-shirts low-cut enough to expose her DD-cup breasts. But coming from another planet, she didn't know how to dress other than what she saw on magazines and on TV. Because of that, she even started smoking and drinking underage, somehow managing to hide it from her fiancé.

As the newly engaged couple began to plan for their wedding, the summer flew by. The save-the-date cards had gone out in the mail, the bridesmaids' dresses had been chosen, and Vriska's wedding dress had even been found. Everything seemed to be on the track toward perfection.

Let's fast-forward to mid-December.


	3. Triple-check

**-Friday, December 18, 6:54 pm/the Egberts' house-**

John waved to his dad as the car pulled out of the driveway and dialed Vriska's number.

Vriska's cell phone buzzed on the coffee table and she leaned over to grab it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Vriska."

"Oh, John."

"Yeah, um, my dad just left for business. Do you want to come over and watch a movie or something?" John had no idea why he was so nervous. He was nineteen, it wasn't like that "no one over while Dad's gone" rule still applied, right?

About fifteen minutes later, Vriska arrived at the Egberts' house. "Hey," John said with a smile, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hey." Vriska smiled and followed John up to his bedroom. "So what do you wanna do tonight?"

"I was thinking about a movie? National Treasure or Con-Air?"

"Con-Air." Vriska tossed her stuff into a corner and sat down on John's bed.

John laughed a little. "As usual." He popped the disc into the DVD player and hopped onto his bed next to Vriska. "Do you want me to pop some popcorn?"

"Oh, sure." Vriska stood up and followed her fiance downstairs.

Half an hour later, some hot action was going on in John's bedroom.

* * *

 

**-Friday, February 12, 10:41 am/Red Dragon Chinese Bistro-**

"Hey, Vriska." Terezi approached Vriska at Red Dragon, the Chinese restaurant the two worked at. "What's up?"

Vriska smiled sarcastically. "Oh, besides throwing up every morning for the past week? Nothing."

"Are you sure you're not getting sick?" Even though Terezi and Vriska had almost hated each other when they were younger, the fact that they had lived together for five months the year before and working together had improved their relationship, although they had always cared.

"I only feel like shit when I'm throwing up." Vriska rolled her eyes. "I'll look more into it this afternoon. Kanaya's coming over today, though."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And this time she's actually staying up until the wedding."

"Oh, okay." Terezi sighed. "Alright, I'm going to get to work."

That afternoon Vriska walked back to her apartment with tons of things on her mind. Kanaya was coming over today, and Vriska was not looking forward to having to share a bathroom and dealing with a fold-out couch.

And on top of that, she was also throwing up every morning, sometimes randomly during the day. She didn't have any allergies she knew of, and her immune system had always been strong, since she was a troll. So what was making her sick?

As soon as she arrived at her apartment, Vriska opened up her laptop and did a Google search. It didn't look like a gastrointestinal issue, because she hadn't gotten much heartburn before and hadn't gotten any at all recently. And that cyclic vomiting disease was out of the question.

The only other option, mentioned in every single search result, was being pregnant.

After doing a few more searches on that topic, Vriska was beginning to get scared. As well as being scared, she was also confused. Since she and John were two different species, they couldn't successfully reproduce, right? But considering there wasn't really a troll sex-ed that was anatomy-based...it might have been possible.

But it seemed important.

She needed to know.

Before Vriska left to go to the drugstore, she changed into something more comfortable. Making sure she had enough money, she grabbed her purse and headed out.

"Damn, this stuff is expensive," she mumbled to herself as she looked at the shelves of pregnancy tests. She finally decided on buying from three different brands-she felt the need to triple check.

Ignoring the somewhat disapproving looks from the clerk, Vriska quickly checked out and practically ran back to her apartment. She tore into all three boxes and read the directions. "How the hell is peeing on a stick supposed to determine anything?!" she exclaimed, but shrugged.

After she finished cleaning up in the bathroom, Vriska impatiently wandered around the apartment, glancing between the microwaves timer, her phone, and the bathroom. What if they do come out positive? she thought. What will John say? I don't know about him, but I can't raise a...human-troll hybrid. I'm too terrible of a person.

The ding of the timer snapped Vriska out of her thoughts. Time for the moment of truth.

She went back into the bathroom and picked up each test carefully.

Two pink lines.

Green plus sign.

Pregnant.

"Shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. There was the second chapter.
> 
> Yeah, I didn't want this to turn into a lemon because I'm really bad at writing those (and I feel uncomfortable writing those). I'm sorry I just suddenly put that they did it in there. I think at that part in the story I was getting kind of bored with what I was writing and just wanted to...move along. That's it.
> 
> I appreciate reviews and stuff! I don't bite! ;)


	4. Confirmation

Vriska tossed the tests on the ground and sighed. What was she going to do? What was going to happen to her? The only experiences she had had with kids were children at Red Dragon or stores, and were not very pleasant ones. Were young humans good for anything besides crying and screaming?

Sighing again, she shakily picked up her phone and dialed John's number. She nervously waited for him to pick up as she listened to it ring.

"Hey Vriska." John laid down on his bed. "What's up?"

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"Um..." Vriska took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant..."

John dropped his phone and scrambled to pick it up, falling off his bed in the process. "What?!"

"I'm pregnant."

"I know that, but  _how_?!"

"Look, I'm just as confused as you are! I mean, I know how, but I don't know  _how_!"

"I'm coming over, okay?"

"Okay."

The two hung up simultaneously and Vriska sighed. Maybe John could help her figure things out...of course he would.

She heard a knock on the door and went to answer it. "You're sure?" John asked. "You're one-hundred percent sure?"

"I took three different tests, and they all came out positive. I'm pretty sure."

"Can I see? They come out inaccurate sometimes, you know."

Vriska found the three tests scattered on the floor in the bathroom and brought them out for John to see.

John took them from her and sighed. "Come on. We're going to a doctor."

* * *

Vriska had never been to a doctor before, so it was an interesting experience, to say the least. After walking into the Planned Parenthood center, she was immediately spoken to by a woman at the front desk. Once John had told her they were interested in a pregnancy test, Vriska was taken into the back. They had her pee in a cup and took some blood, at John's request. They didn't even seem to care that it was blue.

She and John impatiently waited in the waiting room for about ten minutes. Finally, the clinic doctor came out.

"Well, Ms. Serket..." The doctor looked up from his clipboard. "...we just got the results back."

"And?" Vriska stared at him, biting her lip so hard she was surprised her teeth didn't puncture the skin.

"You  _are_  pregnant."

John sighed.

"You always have the option to abort," the doctor told Vriska.

John looked up at her. "Well?"

She blinked.

"It's all up to you."

She hesitated. All eyes were on her.

"No. I'm not going to abort."

After a counselor discussed their options, Vriska and John walked back to his car in silence. "You could've gotten an abortion, you know," John said to her. "That's why I said it was all up to you. Not that I necessarily wanted you to get one, I just...don't want you to have to go through something you have the option of not going through."

"I'm not killing anymore." Vriska sighed. "My whole life has been kill, kill, kill. I'm  _not_  doing it again." The look on her face, although she was dead serious, was filled with anxiety and uncertainty.

"But a kid takes a lot of responsibility to raise."

"I know that, it's just...I don't want you to be mad and break up with me."

"Vris, we're getting married in two months! Of course I wouldn't break up with you!" He paused. "I'm just worried about what my dad will say. I mean, I don't really seem like the type to get my fiancée pregnant..."

"But you're a legal adult! Why does he care?"

"As long as I'm still living at home, he's gonna care." John put his hand on Vriska's knee and looked into her eyes. "But now that we're having a baby, I have another reason to move out and buy a house."

"Do you really think we could buy a house?"

"If Karkat and Terezi could do it, we can do it."

"Yeah..." Vriska paused. "Oh, remember Kanaya's supposed to come over today."

"Have you heard from her? Are you going to tell her?"

"I'll have to. She won't judge me. And once we get back to my apartment I'll ask her when she's coming."

"Alright." John backed out of the parking lot and drove back to Vriska's apartment.

Already anxious, Vriska hurried upstairs to her apartment. She logged onto her laptop. It just so happened that Kanaya was online, so Vriska decided to message her.

\--arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA]\--  
AG: Hey Kan.  
GA: Hello Vriska  
GA: How Are You  
AG: I was just wondering when you're coming over here.  
GA: I Can Come Any Time Actually  
AG: How about now?  
GA: That Is Fine  
GA: I Will Come Over Now  
AG: Gr8. See you in a few minutes.  
\--arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA]\--

"What'd she say?" John asked.

"We should probably go over to your house now."

"Alright. But we're  _not_  telling my dad."

"I don't want to tell your dad. Ever." Vriska looked at the floor, turning her head away from John.

"Vriska..." John put one hand on her shoulder reassuringly and lifted her chin up with the other. "I know my dad doesn't like you too much, but...maybe this'll prove to him that you're actually mature."

"I'll probably screw up again, though. I always do that."

John could notice tears welling up in Vriska's eyes. He didn't even remember if he'd seen her cry before.

"Vriska, everything will be okay. I  _trust_  you. We're gonna get married, and you're gonna be a great mom, and we're gonna have a nice, happy life together, no matter what my dad says. Okay?"

Vriska looked up at John and sniffed. "Okay."

"Do you want to leave now?"

"Sure." Vriska wiped her eyes and took a deep breath before grabbing her purse.

It turned out Mr. Egbert wasn't even home yet, so Vriska and John were relieved. Even though they weren't telling him yet, Vriska was dreading the moment they had to. John was as well, although he knew what to expect from his dad and his dad actually liked him.

They went upstairs to wait for Kanaya in John's bedroom. Well, it turned out she was already there. Thankfully she hadn't messed with anything.

"Vriska?"

Kanaya stood up when she saw it was who she was looking for. "Hello." She smiled a warm smile and gave her a hug. "How have you been?"

"Oh, you don't even know." Vriska smiled hopefully and laughed a little.

Kanaya let go of the hug. "Do you live here?"

"I'll take you both back to her apartment." John tossed his car keys into the air and caught them. "C'mon."

The three went back to Vriska's apartment, Vriska explaining what was going to happen up until the wedding. She never mentioned the baby once, and wanted to keep it that way for a while.

John hung around for a few minutes after dropping the girls off, and was getting ready to leave when he remembered something he wanted to tell Vriska.

"Hey, um, I don't want you to tell Kanaya until after we tell my dad," he whispered to her, standing next to the door. "I know she probably won't tell anyone, not that she has anyone to tell, but I'd rather get my dad over with before we start telling anyone else."

"I can do that." Vriska sighed. "It's not like I'm absolutely ecstatic about telling anyone anytime soon."

"Things will get better." John paused, looking up at the ceiling. "Oh, you should probably make an appointment with an obstetrician as soon as possible. You need to make sure everything's okay."

"Okay." Vriska rolled her eyes a little and sighed.

"It'll be okay." John kissed his fiancée and gave her a hug. "I love you. I'll call you tomorrow."

"I...love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how to do Pesterlogs. I also suck at roleplaying and people have told me I am the worst Karkat to grace the face of the Earth, so that doesn't help either.


	5. The Secret is Out

Several weeks passed from the day John and Vriska found out. Vriska still hadn't worked up the courage to tell John's dad, but she knew they were going to have to tell him at one point sooner or later. John had gone with her to the obstetrician, who had confirmed she was nine weeks along at the appointment.

Not much happened in the couple of weeks following her first appointment. As she was still in her first trimester, Vriska was still experiencing morning sickness. It had gotten so bad, it was starting to interfere with her job as a waitress, even though she didn't have to be at work until 10:30 in the morning. She wanted to tell her boss about it very badly, but she had promised John she wouldn't tell anyone until after they told his dad.

* * *

**-Friday, March 11, 12:12 pm/Vriska'a apartment/12 weeks-**

"Vriska, are you sure you don't want more to eat?" John looked at Vriska with a confused look on his face. "You usually eat more than this."

"No, I - I ate a late breakfast." Vriska blushed and looked down at the floor. She didn't want John to know how concerned she was about fitting into her wedding dress. The wedding was a good month away and she already felt really fat.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to hurt yourself or the baby."

"I told you already, I'm full." Vriska sighed and rolled her eyes.

"If you say so." John hated to, but he agreed with his fiancée anyway. She was really starting to worry him with her attitude towards pregnancy. Although they'd only known for two weeks, she hadn't seemed to change anything but her eating habits. Vriska usually ate an average portion, sometimes even more. But lately she'd been eating a lot less. And it was starting to look like on purpose.

"Well..." Vriska sighed and got up from the table. "I'm going to clean up. It looks awful in here."

"Do you want me to help you?" John asked as he got up from the table.

"No, Kanaya'll be here if I need any."

"Alright." John paused. "Remember we're going out to dinner with my dad tonight."

"Yeah," Vriska hesitantly replied. Tonight was going to be the night they told Mr. Egbert, and she was worried sick. Every time she thought about it she felt like she was going to throw up, and her constant headaches weren't helping either.

"I'll see you tonight then. When do you want me to pick you up?"

"Um...5:45's fine."

"Okay." John gave Vriska a quick kiss. "I love you."

"I...love you too."

Vriska gave John a sad wave and locked the door behind him. Pressing her back to it, she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Vriska?" Kanaya got up off the couch and walked over to me. "You sound troubled. What's the matter?"

"I'm fine. Just wedding stress, that's all." Vriska sighed again and looked up at the ceiling.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Now could you help me clean? It's really messy in here."

"Of course. Where should we start?"

* * *

**-6:09 pm/Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar-**

As Vriska conversed with John and Mr. Egbert, the pit feeling in her stomach was returning. It was only a short amount of time before the secret was out. She was sure that how ever much food she ended up eating for dinner was going to come back up at some point.

She dabbled a bit in conversation, but most of the time picked at her food and listened. Her head was beginning to hurt again. She couldn't wait to get it over with.

"Thank you both for paying for dinner," Mr. Egbert said to John and Vriska as they arrived back at the Egberts' house. "I wasn't expecting you to! Thank you!"

John laughed nervously and glanced at Vriska. "Um, Dad...there's something we've been needing to tell you..."

"Yes?" Mr. Egbert cocked his head.

"Um..." John turned to his fiancee. "Vriska?"

"Oh, um..." Vriska looked at the ground, taking a deep breath. "We're having a baby."

There was a long silence. Vriska could literally feel the blood pumping through her veins.

"...What?!"

"Vriska's pregnant." John sighed and looked at his feet.

"John, I need to have a serious talk with you about this." Mr. Egbert sighed. "When is it due?"

"September 28th," Vriska squeaked.

John sighed. "Listen, Dad, I'm sorry, but I need to take Vriska home."

"Alright, but come  _straight_  back here. We're having a serious talk when you get back."

"Yes sir." John looked back at Vriska. "C'mon, Vris."

They went out to his car in total silence. Vriska didn't know what to do.

"...Do you think he'll get used to the idea?" she finally asked.

"I hope so. He usually does, but...I don't know. He seemed pretty upset about it."

Vriska sighed. "But why did he get mad? I thought human reproduction is treated totally different from troll reproduction! I thought that here, reproducing is a  _good_  thing!"

"It's a good thing if you're married, Vris. We aren't married yet. And anyway, we're so young..."

"We're young?"

John sighed. "Vriska, do you know  _anything_  about babies?"  
She shook her head.

"Then why are we even doing this?! It's a lot of freaking responsibility to take care of a kid, Vriska! I don't understand why you're acting like it's not a big deal!"

"John, I thought you'd understand that  _I don't know anything about here_! I didn't know that I'd get pregnant! I didn't even know that that was physically possible! Why are you so pissed at me?!"

"You've been here for a fucking year! You should know more! Are you totally oblivious to everything?!"

Vriska sighed. "Just, whatever. I'll talk to you tomorrow." She gripped her phone and keys and started off for her apartment.

"Vriska, wait...!"

She didn't even look back.

* * *

**-10 minutes later, Vriska's apartment-**

As Vriska whipped out her apartment key, it suddenly hit her how mad John was. He almost  _never_ cursed. And even though she didn't understand this "pregnancy" thing...she at least knew there was a living thing inside of her that needed to be loved and taken care of. So many questions she now knew the answers to...and they weren't the answers she was looking for.

"Hello Vriska." Kanaya smiled as Vriska entered the apartment. "How was your—"

Vriska slammed the door, her eyes started to tear up. She threw her purse and key onto the counter and ran into the bedroom, not even giving Kanaya a look. She slammed her bedroom door, locking it.

Falling onto her knees, Vriska rested her arms on the bed and cried into the sheets. Why was this happening? She never cried. She was just overreacting, wasn't she?

Ten minutes passed before there was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Vriska?" Kanaya creaked open the door. "You forgot to lock this one, you know."

Vriska sniffed and looked up. "Fuck off."

"Vriska..." Kanaya sat down on the bed. "What happened?"

"None of it was your fault and you can't help me with any of it. Go away."

"Come on, Vriska." Kanaya lifted up her ex-moirail's chin. "Tell me what happened."

The other troll stood up and walked over to the dresser. She opened a drawer and began rummaging through it.

"Are you trying to avoid answering me?" Kanaya got up off the bed and went to stand next to Vriska.

"No." Vriska finally found the ultrasound picture and whipped it out.

"What's that?"

Vriska shoved the picture into Kanaya's hands. "What happened."

Kanaya squinted and stared at it. "What is this?"

"It's a human wiggler, Kanaya."

The jade-blood looked up at Vriska. "What?"

"It's...a human wiggler. There's a human wiggler inside me. And it's John's."

"But it's...it's not...it isn't...is it possible?!"

"Obviously."

"How?!"

"Vriska hadn't seen Kanaya this confused in a long time. "Do I have to talk about how it happened specifically?"

"Of course not! I'm just confused as to how that—that  _blob_ —is human offspring!"

"It'll get bigger."

"Oh." Kanaya sighed and looked down at the floor, her eyes widening. "Did you plan for this to happen?"

"Of course not! That's why I'm so fucking upset!" Vriska sniffed. "John told his dad, and now his dad's pissed off at him. So in return, he's pissed off at me because I apparently should know more about how humans work and stuff! But I don't!"

Kanaya embraced her in a hug. "I'm sure everything will work out. You're getting married next month, after all."

"If everything goes okay." She sighed and sniffed again.

"Alright, I won't bother you anymore." Kanaya gave Vriska one last sympathetic smile before exiting the room.

Vriska sighed and went into the bathroom to clean off her smeared make-up. She had been crying pretty hard, as her mascara and eyeliner were practically dripping down her chin.

Her stomach growled. Shit. She had left her box of food at John's house. But she didn't need to be eating anything now if she wanted to fit into her wedding dress later. She would try her hardest to keep her weight normal.

_Maybe I'll just watch TV with Kanaya_ , she thought. She opened the door and went to join Kanaya on the couch, stumbling a bit. Her head was throbbing. Why did she have to get a migraine _now_?  _I should probably sit down..._

"Vriska—!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meh, I feel as if this chapter is over-dramatic. It's really OOC Vriska. I'll try my best to make her more in-character in the later chapters though.


	6. Staying Strong

**-Saturday, March 12, 12:21 am/Maple Valley Regional Hospital-**

Vriska's eyes slowly opened. She was staring at a white ceiling, and the smell of rubbing alcohol and latex gloves filled the room.

She struggled to sit up, but eventually just gave up. "John…" she managed to get out.

"Vriska, you're awake!" John immediately rushed over to the side of the hospital bed.

"Where…am I?" she asked him.

"Shh, don't waste your energy talking. The doctor says you're very weak and you need rest."

"I'm going to talk if I want to," Vriska insisted. She looked up at the ceiling, sighing a bit. She reached up to scratch her nose, but felt something—was it a piece of tape?—there.

"What…is this?" Vriska slowly asked. She realized there was a tube coming out of her nose, and tried to pull it out.

"Don't mess with it!" John pulled Vriska's hand away and squeezed it. "Vriska, you're really sick! You don't need to hurt yourself any more!"

"But what did I do to get sick, John?!"

"Vriska, I know you haven't been eating! The doctor said you're barely even 120 pounds, and you need to be at least 145 for your height! And, on top of that, you need to gain at least 20 pounds while you're pregnant!" Vriska could tell John was trying hard not to cry. "I just don't want anything to happen to you or the baby, okay?!"

"Well…is the baby okay?"

Vriska hated to see John this upset, partially because it made her uncomfortable, partially because it made her upset as well.

"The baby's fine, even though the ultrasound technician said that it's a little small, but thankfully it didn't take any impact from the fall.

"That's good." Vriska sighed and looked down at the floor. She felt really badly about herself now.

"Look, John..." Vriska sighed again, looking up. "I'm...sorry for being such a shitty girlfriend, a shitty fiancee, and just a shitty person in general."

"Vriska." John sat down on the bed, taking up Vriska's hand in his. "I know you're still having a hard time adjusting and fitting in, and you've made some bad choices because of that, and you're just insecure. So no, you're not a shitty person." He paused. "Vriska...do you mind me telling you something you may not want to hear?"

"Might as well." Vriska smiled sarcastically. "My life's already fucked up enough, so why the hell not?!"

"Vriska..." John sighed. "The thing is, my dad doesn't like you very much. He thinks you're very immature and childish and doesn't think you'll do a good job of taking care of our baby."

"Why? What did I do wrong?"

"Well...it's mainly about the way you dress and the way you act. And...he also thinks you were the one who wanted to have sex."

"Oh." Vriska looked around the room. "And why does he care? You're happy! We're getting married in April!"

"To be honest, I don't even know how he let marriage slide." John looked at the floor, then back up to Vriska. "But, we're getting married in a little over a month, so he'll have to like it at some point."

"I don't know either." Vriska was about to say something else, but the door opened.

"Oh, you're finally awake?" A nurse came into the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired." Vriska sighed.

"Are you hungry at all? Be honest."

Vriska hesitated. "Y-Yes."

"Alright." The nurse glanced at the clock. "Even though it's almost 12:40, the doctor's orders were for you to eat right after you woke up..." She paused for a moment. "I'll be right back."

The nurse left, leaving John and Vriska alone again.

"Oh, I forgot to mention," John said to Vriska, "the doctor said that you need to focus on your diet while you're here so you can gain weight."

"But I don't want to, John!"

"You know you have to!"

"But I don't want to pay the extra $100 it'll take to alter my dress!" Vriska exclaimed. "I don't want to look fat on our wedding day, and I don't want to embarrass myself!"

"You're being really selfish right now! Do you want to lose our baby?!"

"John, I didn't mean it that way!"

"Then what  _did_  you mean, Vriska?!"

A knock on the door interrupted their argument. "Come in," John said with a sigh.

"The doctor should be here shortly," the nurse said as she came in with another woman, who was pushing a cart with a tray of food on it. "But he said you should go ahead and eat, so we brought a meal for you to eat before you go to sleep."

"Alright..." Vriska watched as the other woman set the tray of food on the bedside tray.

"I'll be back in about an hour to pick it up," the woman told her.

"Thank...you."

The woman and the nurse left and John looked back to Vriska.

"See? You have to eat it. It's not that hard to eat something."

"Fine!" Vriska uncovered the tray and picked up the sandwich that lay inside. "I'll eat it if it makes you happy."

She tore off a bite and forced it down. After forcing down bite after bite, she realized the sandwich was gone.

"That wasn't hard at all, was it?" John asked. "I know you don't want to eat so much, but you need to be healthy so our baby can be healthy."

"I know." Vriska rolled her eyes. "I'll—"

There was another knock at the door and someone came in. "Hello, Ms...Serket," a man said. "My name is Dr. Johnson, and I just want to talk to you about what's going to happen these next few days, okay?"

Vriska nodded.

"Alright, well the thing we'll mainly focus on is your diet and gaining weight. I'm sure you already know you're severely underweight, and you as well as your baby need to gain weight in order to stay healthy. From what we've planned out so far, you'll eat three main meals as well as three snacks, okay?"

"Okay."

"We also have a counseling session lined up for tomorrow after lunch, if that's alright with you."

"That's...fine."

"Alright." Dr. Johnson flipped through the pages on his clipboard. "That's all I wanted to talk to you about now, so now you can get some rest. Just call if you need anything."

"Thank you."

Once Dr. Johnson had left the room, John stood up. "I hate to leave you," he told Vriska, "but I have classes tomorrow morning, and I have to work after that. I'll be by when visiting hours are open, if that's fine with you."

"That's fine." Vriska sighed. "I'll have my phone on."

"Okay." John bent over and kissed Vriska on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Stay strong."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So when I was writing this chapter, I was trying really hard to meet the personal deadline I had set for myself. In other words, that means I think I stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning trying to finish this. So I don't really know what I was thinking when I wrote a lot of this, and I also noticed some stuff didn't match up with previous chapters. Like, when John tells Vriska his dad doesn't like her too much, I forgot he already told her that.


	7. Counseling & Peanuts

**-Sunday, March 13, 8:37 am/Maple Valley Regional Hospital-**

Vriska was awakened by the door opening once again. She was tempted to roll over and stuff her head under the pillow, but she remembered she was at the hospital. Besides, this was probably her breakfast. She had promised John she would eat.

"Good morning, Ms. Serket!" a lady exclaimed as she entered the room with Vriska's tray of food. It was a different lady than the day before.

"Hi," Vriska managed. She sighed and watched as the plate of food was set down on the bedside tray.

As the lady left, Vriska uncovered the plate of food and sighed. Eggs, sausage, and a biscuit  _again_. She absolutely despised eggs, and hospital food wasn't that good anyway. Even so, she managed to choke it all down in about twenty minutes.

Although this was only her second full day at the hospital, she was already almost bored to tears. There really wasn't anything else to do other than watch TV, and there was nothing interesting on in the mornings. But thankfully John had brought Vriska her laptop the day before, so she could do crap when she wasn't in counseling.

Not much happened that morning. She had watched some TV, but it was all boring talk shows. Most of the time she was on her laptop. John had suggested she started looking up baby names, since it would only be a few weeks before they had the possibility of finding out. So that morning she poked around on a few websites and made a list of the names she liked and the names she absolutely hated.

Vriska noticed there weren't as many boy names as there were girl names. Well, there were, just most of them sounded either too exotic, too fancy, or too boring. But why was she even bothering to look at those? If she had a son, his name would be Nicolas. No exceptions.

She wasn't too sure about girls' names either. Most of them were either too weird or too repetitive. How many ways could you spell McKenzie?! The girls' names list was probably the hardest, but she finally managed to find a few things.

 _Allison...Isabella...Amelia..._  Vriska finished typing up the several names she liked into Microsoft Word. As soon as she hit the "save" button, the door opened.

"Ms. Serket?" A lady came into the room. "It's time for your counseling session."

"This early?"

"The counselor has to leave after lunch on Sundays, so you'll maybe get a fifteen minute session at the most."

"Oh, okay." Vriska closed her laptop and scooted off the bed into the wheelchair that was waiting for her. She was apparently too weak to walk on her own.

As the nurse transferred the IVs to the hook on the back of the wheelchair, Vriska sighed. She hated going to the counselor after just one day. She hated lying to the counselor, she hated talking about her health, and she hated the room it was in. Everything about counseling made her stomach hurt.

The nurse wheeled Vriska out of the room and down the hall. Why did the counseling room have to be on the other side of the women's and children's center? The hallways were long, dark, and overall just gave off a very depressing aura. Even worse, many of the other patients liked to keep the doors to their rooms open, and didn't seem to care who saw what.

After the boring trip to the other side of the building, Vriska finally made it to the room her counseling was in: the door was already open, and there at the table sat her counselor, Mary.

Mary looked up from her clipboard and smiled. "Hello, Vriska," she said.

Vriska only mumbled in response as she was wheeled up to the table.

"Now, Vriska, I know you don't like going to counseling–"

"I'm  _not_  anorexic!"

"Vriska, admitting you  _are_  anorexic is the first step to recovery."

"But I eat!"

"Just one meal a day isn't eating."

Vriska sighed. She  _loathed_  this woman, and this was only her second day seeing her. "I've been eating here, that's at least something."

"That  _is_  something," Mary replied, "but you need to get into a daily habit of eating when you're supposed to eat before you can go home. Your baby needs a healthy mommy so it can grow strong."

Vriska slumped down in her wheelchair and stared at the floor. She wasn't going to comment.

"Have you written in the journal I gave you yesterday?" Mary asked after a long silence.

Vriska shook her head, still staring at the floor.

"Vriska, you  _need_  to be writing in that. How am I supposed to help you with your problems when you won't even talk to me indirectly?"

"Fine, I'll do it," Vriska mumbled.

"Thank you." Mary gave Vriska a hopeful smile. "I'm sorry today was so short. Now, I'm not here on Mondays, so I'll see you on Tuesday."

"Okay." Vriska sighed.

"Remember to eat. And  _write in that journal_."

* * *

After forcing down the last bit of food, Vriska sighed. That journal Mary gave her on Saturday was sitting on the bedside tray.

Before she realized what she was doing, the journal was already in her hands. She hated to give in to what Mary had told her to do, but...whatever. If it made Mary happy.

Vriska picked up the pen and slowly clicked it. She was actually doing this. Dammit.

 _This is stupid_ , she wrote.  _Why do I have to write in this stupid journal? I hate going to counseling and I hate being here._

 _I don't know what happened. I guess I used to be popular. I_ guess.  _Well, if you could count being hated by almost everyone you know as being popular, then yeah. I was popular. God, I used to be the "Huge 8itch". But now everyone would laugh at me._

 _I mean, come_ on _. I'm sitting here in the hospital, fucking_ pregnant _. I can't do anything. I'm stuck in this stupid hospital bed, where I'm forced to eat every single day. I have to go to counseling to talk about my "problems"._

_I don't have a problem with eating. I have a problem with the baby. I hate being pregnant. I hate it. I feel like shit, and I look fat, which makes me feel like even shittier shit. I know I'm supposed to keep myself healthy for the baby, but...I feel like everything's for the baby. I can't do anything for myself anymore. I want to eat? "Make sure you eat enough for the baby to get some." I want to walk around? "Don't exert yourself too much, you don't want to hurt the baby."_

_Everything I hear is baby, baby, baby. I'm not even thirteen weeks along and I'm already sick of hearing that word. People keep telling me I need to be more excited about it, but what's exciting about a thing growing inside you? All it does is take up space._

Vriska dropped the pen. Her hand was aching. Mary would probably think this was enough feelings to go over on Tuesday.

* * *

Visiting hours opened at three. Vriska had talked to John earlier that day, and he said he'd bring Kanaya along with him to check up on her. She had to admit, she wasn't really looking forward to the visit. There seemed to be a dark cloud over the entire hospital. Nothing good happened in there.

Well, after waiting for a good half hour or so, Vriska finally heard the knock on the door she was waiting for. "Come in," she called.

"Guess who?!" John laughed as he entered the room with Kanaya. "I brought you some flowers."

"Aww, thanks!" Vriska smiled and craned her neck to give John a kiss. John set the flowers down on the cabinet.

"And how's my little Peanut?!" John asked. He put his hand on Vriska's stomach.

Vriska frowned. "Why are you calling the baby a peanut? I thought you were allergic to peanuts."

"I  _am_  allergic to peanuts, but…I don't know. It's cute."

"Peanut..." Vriska repeated. "We're not naming it that, though, right?"

"Of course not!" John laughed. "When do you have your next ultrasound?"

"Tomorrow, actually. I made sure you'd have time to get here, so I got it in at about 3:45."

"Oh..." John sighed. "I actually have to work until five tomorrow, so I won't stop by until late, I'm sorry! But make sure to get a picture for me, okay?"

Vriska's face fell. "O-okay. I can do that."

"I'm sorry I can't come."

"It's fine." Vriska sighed and looked over to Kanaya. "Are you bored without me?"

"Actually, no," Kanaya replied, "I've been over to Karkat's and Terezi's house several times already. It's lovely."

"At least you're not bored." Vriska scoffed and looked over at the wall right as a woman came in with a tray of food. She set it down on The bedside tray.

"Thanks." Vriska sat up a little more.

"Do you eat this early?"

"This is my afternoon snack. Dinner's at six." Vriska uncovered the tray. Inside was a cup of tomato soup and half of a grilled cheese sandwich.

"That's a lot of food for just a snack," John commented. He sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I feel like if I don't eat everything, they'll get mad at me." Vriska dipped the sandwich into the soup. "I'm rarely hungry."

"How's your morning sickness?"

"Worse." Vriska sighed. "If I throw up, the doctor thinks it's on purpose and it makes me feel like crap when they get onto me."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I just have to gain eight more pounds and then I'm out of here."

"Which should be...?"

"Hopefully by next week."

"Ah, okay." John squeezed her hand. "You can do it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has to be the worst chapter title ever. I suck at coming up with titles for chapters.


	8. A Bad Idea?

**-Tuesday, March 15, 1:21 pm/Maple Valley Regional Hospital-**

_Well, here I am, writing in this stupid thing again. Mary told me I still need to write in it while I'm here. I still think it's stupid._

_I liked not having to go to counseling yesterday. I didn't have to hurry to eat my lunch. But, of course I had to go today. Mary read my Sunday entry and talked to me for a long time. She asked me why I didn't get an abortion if I hate being pregnant so much. I didn't want to tell her I wasn't going to kill anyone again, so I just told her John wanted to keep it. Wait, she's going to read this. Whatever._

_Yesterday I had an ultrasound to make sure Peanut is okay. Yeah, Peanut. John wants to call the baby Peanut until we find out what it is and we actually name it. Anyway, everything was fine. I'll be thirteen weeks on Friday. That's hard to believe._

_John also wants to start looking at houses. I've been looking at some online, and_ nothing  _in our area seems to be in our price range. John says we'll probably have to live in my apartment for a little bit after we get married. We might even have to live there up until Peanut is born. (I'm going to call the baby Peanut until we actually name it.) I don't want to have to do that. The apartment is too small._

_Life still sucks._

Vriska put down her pen and sighed. God, she was ready to be out of there. She couldn't wait to get back to work so she could make some money to go towards Peanut. She couldn't wait to make some money in general.

It wouldn't be much money, but...still. She really wished she was in college like Terezi so she could have a better chance of getting a better job. But she couldn't afford to go to college. John would have to get a really good job if they wanted to get by.

But Vriska didn't want to think about that now. They weren't even getting married until the end of April. Everything would be fine.

* * *

Vriska heard a knock on the door and looked up. That's right...visiting hours opened at three. But didn't John say he would stop by at around five?

"Come in," she said, unsure of who it was.

Once she saw who it was, though, she rolled her eyes. "What are  _you_  guys doing here?" She asked.

"Well, we  _thought_  we'd go visit you to be nice people," Karkat said, crossing his arms. "But apparently not."

"Why are you just now coming, though? I've been in here since Friday night."

"We've been meaning to come, it's just...we've been so busy." Terezi sighed.

"When did you get so busy?"

"Vriska, you know I have classes in the morning and afternoon five days a week, and I work every evening minus Sunday."

Karkat decided to change the subject. "So what'd you do to wind up here?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

Vriska knew she couldn't really tell them why without mentioning the baby. Dammit. She didn't want to have to tell them. But John had said it'd be better to tell them sooner than later...

"I'm pregnant."

Terezi scoffed. "Haha, Vriska. That's very funny."

She and Karkat had lived on Earth a lot longer than Vriska had. They knew what being pregnant meant. They also knew it probably wasn't a pleasant experience.

"No, I'm serious." Vriska leaned over and grabbed her journal off the bedside tray. She knew the ultrasound picture was in there somewhere…

"Ah." She flipped to the page in the composition book she had stuck the ultrasound picture on. "Look."

Terezi took the picture from Vriska's hands. "Welp."

"What?" Karkat peered over Terezi's shoulder. "Oh."

"And...it's human?" Terezi asked.

"Apparently."

"Well, good luck!" Terezi laughed.

Vriska rolled her eyes. "You don't seem to care."

"It's not my problem!" Terezi smiled. "Have fun!"

"Whatever. Just don't tell anyone else about it." Vriska shrugged. "That was easy."

Terezi handed the picture back to her. "I mean, we're basically human now. It should be fine. I hope."

Karkat's eyes widened. "Wait, Terezi, are you saying you're—"

"No, no, no, no!" Terezi laughed nervously. "I meant, IF we ever planned on having any—"

" _No_."

"Al- _right_." Terezi looked back to Vriska. "Well, we're going to leave now…"

"Alright."

"Good luck with everything, I guess."

* * *

**-7:14 pm, the Egberts' house-**

"John Egbert, there is no way you're buying a house!"

"But Dad, I know what I'm getting myself into!" John argued. "And besides, there's no way we'd be able to fit into one of those tiny apartments with all the baby stuff!"

"Well, that's your fault for not using protection when you had sex!" Mr. Egbert slammed his hands onto the counter. "That was easily preventable! You're smart enough to know that, John! And now you're going to be a dad at just twenty years old!"

"Dad, you know Vriska's different! Neither of us knew that she would get pregnant!"

"But protection is common sense unless you're planning for a child! I don't understand why you didn't use it!"

John crossed his arms. "You never answered my question about whether or not you'll help pay for our house."

"The answer is no!" Mr. Egbert shouted. "I'm already paying for the wedding and the honeymoon, and not to mention you _tricked_  me into helping out your friends Karkat and Terezi last year! Just because we have a lot of money doesn't mean you can take advantage of the situation! So _no_ , you'll have to pay for this yourself!"

"Dad—" John sighed. "Vriska was really depending on you for this."

"Well, Vriska needs to learn to depend on herself! Both of you make your own money, why do you keep asking me for money to borrow?"

"Dad, Vriska is _in the hospital_! She can't do anythi—"

"Well, that's  _her_  fault for being so careless! She obviously cares more about herself than  _your_  baby! She's obviously not mature enough to raise a child! I don't even understand what you see in her!"

John threw his hands up into the air. "That's it. I'm done arguing. I'm just gonna go upstairs and go to bed, even though it's not even 7:30…"

"Alright. Do whatever you want." Mr. Egbert sighed and turned around as John went upstairs.

John sat down on his bed and sighed. His dad was  _never_  this hard to agree with, and he  _never_  got this angry. And it was all over Vriska.

What was wrong with Vriska? She was just Vriska. Well, Vriska plus one. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing! I mean, Vriska wasn't  _that_  bad of a person. She was just insecure. And Mr. Egbert wasn't really helping her to get over that.

What happened to fun Dad? What happened to the Dad that always baked cakes, the Dad that basically encouraged practical joking? Ever since John had starting dating Vriska, that Dad had slowly disappeared.

* * *

_Still March 15._

_John called me earlier. He said that his dad isn't helping us pay for our house and he wants us to pay for_  all  _of it ourselves. I'm almost ready to scrap the idea alltogether. It's going to be_ so  _expensive_.

_Karkat and Terezi got lucky, since their house was a foreclosure—whatever that means—but I don't think we'll be that lucky. Most of the houses I've seen online are like several hundred thousand or something._

_This isn't fair. John and I don't make enough money to buy our own house, and Mr. Egbert knows that. I think he just wants to prove to us how hard life will be with a baby._

_I_  still  _don't understand why he doesn't realize that I_  seriously didn't know I'd get pregnant!  _No matter how hard we stress it to him, he still_   _doesn't believe us._

_I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. Nothing ever seems to go my way._

_Maybe staying here was a bad idea._

* * *

**Well, this was pretty much a filler chapter. I didn't like it that much.**

**excuse the OOC Karkat, Terezi, and Dad.**

Guest: **Thank you! I'm working on the next chapter now!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay sorry for those unrelated chapter notes, I copy directly from fanfiction and I'm on mobile and can't delete that right now.


	9. Confession

**-Saturday, March 19, 7:03 pm/Maple Valley Regional Hospital/14 weeks-**

"Are you ready?" John asked. He picked up Vriska's duffel bag and laptop case. "I don't want you to forget anything."

"Yeah, let me grab my journal." Vriska reached across the hospital bed and grabbed the composition book off the bedside tray. "Alright. Let's get out of here."

Vriska followed John out of the hospital room and out to the lobby desk. Once she had checked out, the two walked to John's car in the parking garage.

"Well?" Vriska asked. "What're we going to do now?"

"Well, if you want to go out to eat, we can—"

"No, we can't afford to go out to eat anymore! I'm really serious about wanting to buy a house, John! I'm not eating out at all, I'm not shopping all the time anymore, and I'm not getting another tattoo until after the— _Peanut_  is born!"

"You don't need to be wasting money on something as stupid as a tattoo anyway."

"Hey." Vriska rolled her eyes. "I think it's awesome."

"If you say so." John backed his car out of the parking space. "It wouldn't be particularly healthy for you to get another one with Peanut, anyway. And they're expensive."

Vriska sat there for a while and stared out the window. She would get to go to work tomorrow. She would get to go to work all that next week. For once she actually wanted to go to work. For once she actually wanted to serve food to hundreds of rude humans who weren't generous tippers. But hey, it was money. And money could buy a house.

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind if I came over to your house today?"

"Well…" John sighed. "I wouldn't mind, but my dad would."

"Oh."

"I'm still going to let you come over, though," John told her. "My dad is going to have to get used to you."

"I'm surprised he isn't already." Vriska sighed. "I don't like your dad."

"Wait, do you mean like the weird troll kind of 'don't like', or…"

"No, I just generally don't like him. I mean, I can tell he  _tries_  to put up with me, but...I can still tell he doesn't like me."

"It's..." John sighed. "Vriska, he just thinks you're immature. But you're  _not_  immature. I mean, come  _on_ , you rent out your own apartment, you have your own job, you buy your own food—"

"I smoke, John."

John stared at her in surprise, almost crashing into the car in front of him at the red light.

"What?!"

"I've been trying to stop, John, I swear! I haven't smoked for over a week, for God's sake, I know it's bad for the baby, I know it smells awful, and I'm trying to stop! I promise, I'll throw away every single pack once we get back to my apartment! I promise! Please don't be mad!"

"Well..." John sighed. "I guess that explains the slightly smoky smell sometimes…"

"Please don't be mad, John!"

"I won't be if you  _promise_  to throw away _every single_  pack when we get there, okay?"

"Okay." Vriska sighed and looked out the window. The sun was going down, it was almost eight o'clock. She was starving.

"I'm going to call my dad and ask if he's made dinner."

"Okay."

* * *

Soon after, the two arrived at Vriska's apartment. After a cursory examination of the cabinets and drawers, John had thrown four cartons of cigarettes into a bag.

Vriska had never felt more ashamed while on Earth. Of course, she had known it wouldn't stay a secret for long, but she still felt badly about it. At least she  _thought_  John believed her about trying to kick the habit. It wasn't like she totally didn't care about Peanut.

"Maybe I'll give these to my dad or something." John shrugged. "I'm not sure if he likes cigarettes, but they're perfectly good…

"And they're expensive," Vriska chimed.

"Yeah." John grabbed his keys off the counter. "Now,  _no_  smoking, and lets head over to my house. I'm sure you're starving."

* * *

**-8:27 pm/the Egberts' house-**

"Well, how has everything been lately?" Mr. Egbert asked as he cut up the meatloaf he had made.

"Um…not much had happened, actually." Vriska turned to John. "But, um…there's something we wanted to ask you."

"Oh really?"

"Um, Dad…" John took a deep breath. "What would you think if I moved in with Vriska?"

Mr. Egbert sighed. "John, living on your own is a big responsibility."

"I understand that, Dad, and I'm going to be doing it within the next couple of months anyway! And it's with Vriska, so I won't be entirely alone!"

"Well…that's fine with me, but I hope you realize I won't be helping you pay."

John nodded.

"When were you planning on moving out?"

"Well, um…I was going to take some stuff tonight, and pick up some more stuff tomorrow?"

"So you're moving out tonight?"

"Yes."

"Well…alright. I trust you."

"Thanks, Dad."


	10. Easter

**-Sunday, March 20, 5:37 pm/Red Dragon Chinese Bistro-**

"Alright, bye." Terezi smiled and waved to Anastasia, one of her best friends and co-workers. "See you tomorrow."

"Can we hurry?" Vriska complained. "I'm starving."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on."

Vriska followed Terezi out to her car. "And we're stopping by your place first?"

"I'm not helping move a bunch of stuff wearing this!" Terezi backed her car out of the parking space. "So when are you getting your license?"

"Next week. At least, I should." Vriska rolled her eyes. "How long will this take? I'm starving and I really have to pee!"

"Not long. Maybe five minutes, if there's traffic."

Terezi usually walked to work, which usually only took about fifteen to twenty minutes at the most. But today Vriska had asked her and Karkat to help with John moving in. She had only agreed if she didn't have to pay for dinner.

"So how's everything working out?" Terezi had a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she smiled at Vriska.

"I don't even want to talk about it. You know how much I hate human children. They're so annoying."

"And I'm sure John doesn't know how you feel?"

"I'm gonna make sure our kid isn't annoying," Vriska insisted.

She noticed the car was turning onto the street where Terezi and Karkat lived. The houses were pretty nice, although quite a few needed some fixing up. The Vantases' happened to fall in that category.

"I wish that stupid truck would move," Terezi said through gritted teeth as she turned into the driveway. "It's been parked right in front of our driveway since yesterday."

"What's it for?"

"The people across the street are moving." Terezi put on the brake and turned off the engine. "I hope they'll be out of it by Tuesday. They're not very nice."

"How much is it going for?"

"I think somewhere between 175 and 200." She got out of the car, motioning for Vriska to follow. "It's a lot more than ours, that's for sure. Why are you asking?"

Vriska took a deep breath. "John and I want to buy a house."

"Okay…" Terezi unlocked the front door. "Good luck."

Vriska followed Terezi inside and instantly grimaced at the thick stench of sawdust and wood stain. "What the hell are you two doing in here?!" she coughed, waving her hand to clear the air around her.

"Oh, we finally got around to replacing the trim in the living room," Terezi replied. She set her handbag down on the counter in the kitchen. "Alright. I'm going to go get changed."

"Wait! Where's the bathroom?"

"The door next to the stairs—not the one  _on_  the stairs, the one  _next_  to it."

Vriska nodded and dashed into the bathroom, her hand over her mouth. The smell of sawdust was practically choking her, that is, until she emptied whatever was left in her stomach into the toilet.

"Oh god." Vriska stood back up, wiping her mouth and coughing some more. "I think I just peed."

She went over to the sink and washed her hands. How much longer was she going to be doing this?! Take bread, for example. Just walking past the bakery at the grocery store—which normally smelled awesome to her—made her nauseous. How bad would it be when she and John finally had their own house, and they decided to start painting?

"Vriska?" Terezi called. "Are you finished?"

"Yeah!" Vriska dried her hands and went back into the kitchen, where Terezi was waiting. "Come on, I wanna change too."

* * *

**-Sunday, March 27, 9:14 am/John & Vriska's apartment/** **15 weeks-**

"Mmm…" Vriska groggily sat up in bed. "John, what are you doing up?"

"It's not that early, only 9:15." John opened the closet door. "Today's Easter, and I was going to go to church with my dad."

"I don't have to work today…" Vriska rolled out of bed. "What's Easter?"

"It's kind of hard to explain, I guess. It's one of the only times I go to church now, though."

"How long is church?"

"Only about two hours at the most. Not too long." John hung a shirt and some slacks on the back of the door. "Were you wanting to come with me?"

"It'll give me something to do." Vriska yawned and followed John into the kitchen.

"What do you want for breakfast?" John asked as he opened the fridge.

"Just some yogurt." John tossed his fiancée a cup and closed the fridge. "When do we need to leave?"

"About 10:15-ish. We're meeting my dad there."

"Okay." Vriska grabbed a spoon out of a drawer and opened the yogurt cup. "What do I need to wear?"

"Just a dress would be fine."

"Oh, okay."

After throwing away her cup of yogurt and putting the spoon in the sink, Vriska went into the closet and pulled out a blue maxi dress. Yeah, that would be fine. After digging out a pair of sandals, she got dressed and went into the bathroom.

She turned on her curling iron and washed her face. God, she had a lot of hair. But she didn't dare cut it short. Of course, it would take a good twenty minutes to just curl the ends, but it was worth it.

Once Vriska finished curling her hair, she put on her eye makeup and lipstick. She wished there were any type of makeup besides face paint she could use as foundation, but…whatever. John still thought she was pretty.

"Vriska?" John called. "It's almost 10:05, are you anywhere near being finished?"

"Yeah!" Vriska came out of the bathroom door that led to the living area and brushed her hair back out of her face.

John smiled. "You look beautiful today."

"Thanks." Vriska grabbed her purse. "God, I can't wait to get my license this Saturday."

"I know how you feel," John replied. He sat down in a chair at the table and began putting on his socks. "I'm almost ready."

"Alright."

"There." John stood up. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"C'mon, we don't want to be late."

* * *

**-10:39 am/Crossroads United Methodist Church-**

"Alright, my dad says he's on the right side by the windows…" John looked up from his phone as he and Vriska weaved in and out of the crowd of people. "We have about twenty minutes, so you have time to use the bathroom if you need to."

"I'd rather sit down first," Vriska told him.

John held open the door to the sanctuary as Vriska walked in. She was dumbfounded by the large room—there was a huge pipe organ behind the choir loft, stained glass windows lining the walls, and gorgeous woodwork on the edge of the pews.

"John?"

Vriska stopped admiring everything and turned her head. A dirty blonde guy about John's age, who looked extremely familiar, was walking up to the two of them.

"Oh, hey Cole," John said. "How've things been lately?"

"Pretty good. I haven't seen you around here much lately, though! You need to come more often!"

"I know, it's gotten to be a really bad habit…" John scratched his neck. "Oh, have you met my fiancée, Vriska?"

Cole shook her hand. "I'm sure I've met you somewhere…" He thought for a moment. "Do you, by any chance, know Kark—"

"Yes."

"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting you know Karkat!" John laughed a little.

"I haven't talked to him in a couple of weeks… So are you two ready for your wedding?"

"I guess. If anyone's ever ready."

Cole chuckled. "Caroline's excited to go, ever since she was in Karkat's and Terezi's she's been obsessing over weddings, and she's only six! It'll be kind of awkward for my dad to marry the two of you, though."

"Yeah, but it'll still be fun." John sighed. "Well, I see my dad. I guess we're going to go now."

"Alright, I guess I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Bye."


	11. Discussion

**-Saturday, April 2, 5:02 pm/John & Vriska's apartment/16 weeks-**

"I wanna see it!" John laughed, chasing Vriska around their apartment. "C'mon, it's just a driver's license picture!"

"I look awful!" Vriska ran into the bedroom, jumping to keep her temporary license out of John's hands.

"Got it!" John turned away from Vriska, getting a good look at her photo. "Hey, this isn't bad at all!"

"Liar!" Vriska laughed as she snatched her license back. "I can't wait to get the actual one, though."

"But hey, at least you'll be able to drive Peanut around once he's born. Speaking of which…" John took his phone out of his pocket. "I haven't taken a picture this week."

"Ugh, fine." Vriska smiled and rolled her eyes, then turned to the side. "Stop calling Peanut a he! We won't even know until my next appointment!"

"I know, 'he' is just a generic term." John gestured for Vriska to lift up her shirt. "Peanut's getting so big, though!"

"Tell me about it." Vriska put her shirt back down and sat on the bed. "I'll probably have to have my dress altered. I have my fitting this next Wednesday."

"Have you talked to Kanaya at all lately?" John asked. "I don't want her to feel like we kicked her out, I mean, Karkat and Terezi were the ones who suggested she stay with them…"

"Not really. It's not like we work together." Vriska stood back up. "Alright, what's for dinner?"

"I think I'll just stick a lasagna in the oven," John told his fiancée. "Would that be okay?"

"Do we have any lemons?"

"Why do you need lemons?"

"To put on the lasagna, if course!"

"Oh!" John scoffed and went into the kitchen, Vriska following him. "I'm assuming its cravings?"

"Probably." She sat down at the table. "Have you talked to your dad at all today?"

"Not yet. He does want us to come over for dinner sometime this week, though. I told him I'd have to double-check with you first."

"I'm free all week." Vriska opened up her laptop. "I'm probably going to tell my boss this week, so that will be interesting."

"You haven't told her already?"

"No." She sighed and logged on. "I was waiting to see how everything would work out first. Y'know, in case something happened…"

"Yeah." Once the oven had heated up, John stuck the lasagna in.

Vriska sighed. "Look, John, I'm still sorry for landing myself in the hospital and…probably hurting Peanut."

"Well…I can't really say it's okay, but I understand."

Vriska smiled at her fiancé, her eyes starting to tear up a little. "Aw, John, really?"

"Mm-hm." John sighed and turned around. "So what do you want to do for 45 minutes?"

* * *

**-Tuesday, April 5, 10:47 am/Red Dragon Chinese Bistro-**

"Mrs. Wilson-Lee?" Vriska asked her boss. "Can I talk to you in private?"

"Um…" Mrs. Wilson-Lee looked at the clock. "…not right now. What about during your lunch break?"

"I…guess, yeah, sure."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you then."

"Thank you."

Vriska sighed as her boss walked away. She had no idea what her reaction would be. Sure, Mrs. Wilson-Lee had two kids of her own, but come on, how many pregnant waitresses are out there? Besides, so many different resources said it was unhealthy to move around so much while pregnant…

But it would be  _really_  unhealthy if Peanut didn't have the things he or she needed to survive, all because his or her parents couldn't afford them…

All that day, Vriska worked just as hard as usual, but she was still worried about telling her boss. Maybe she could prove to her that she could still work while pregnant…?

Finally two o'clock rolled around and she sighed. She was going to have to tell her at some point…why was she so nervous?

"Ah, Ms. Serket?" Mrs. Wilson-Lee came up to Vriska. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Oh…" Vriska didn't quite know what to do, so she responded with a simple "Mm-hmm".

"Great, just come with me to my office."

Vriska followed Mrs. Wilson-Lee to her office. She sat down in the chair at one side of her boss' desk, her boss sitting at the other.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Mrs. Wilson-Lee had a curious expression on her face as she spun around in her chair. "Was it regarding your recent hospitalization?"

"Um, sort of…" Vriska sighed. "The thing is, I'm pregnant."

"Oh, really?" Mrs. Wilson-Lee exclaimed. "Congratulations!"

"Uh…thanks."

"How far along are you?"

"About fifteen weeks."

"Oh, wow!"

"So anyway…I wanted to talk to you about my…plans, I guess."

"Oh, don't worry, I totally understand. I was working when I had both my kids."

Vriska smiled a bit. "Anyway, I'm fine right now, but I think I may have to get my hours reduced to part-time in a few months, if that's okay with you."

"Of course! I understand you really need to money as well. I guess we can talk more in-depth about it when the time comes?"

"Sure." Vriska stood up.

"Good luck."

"Thank you."


	12. Twenty

**-Wednesday, April 13, 7:50 am/John & Vriska's apartment/18 weeks-**

"Mhm…"

Vriska yawned and rolled over onto her other side, now facing her fiancé in the bed. She smiled. "Happy birthday, John."

"Ngh…" John blinked. "Thanks." He scooted in closer and gave Vriska a kiss.

"What are you planning on doing today?" Vriska asked with a yawn.

"Well…my dad wants to go out to dinner, I think," John replied. He stretched his arms a little. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he said that."

"Mm, alright." Vriska rolled out of bed and stretched. "I'm gonna start making breakfast."

"Alright."

John laid there for a minute and just thought. Today was April 13. His 20th birthday. Ten days until he became a husband. Approximately 159 days until he became a father.

"John!" Vriska called, breaking the silence. "What do you want?"

"Um…" John yawned, this time actually getting out of bed. "Just put some biscuits in the oven and heat up some sausage patties."

"Anything else?"

"No, but while you do that, I'm gonna take a shower."

"Okay." Vriska sighed and set the sausage meat and tube of biscuits on the counter before closing the fridge.

Ten days. Ten days until she got married. And eight days. Eight days for someone to make possible alterations to her wedding dress. Well, shit. Altering a dress in eight days probably wasn't possible. It would have to still fit; there wasn't enough time and there wasn't enough money.

But, her next ultrasound appointment was that next Tuesday. She and John would have the very likely possibility of finding out whether Peanut was a boy or a girl. John honestly didn't care; he just wanted Peanut to be happy and healthy. Vriska, however,  _did_  have a preference.

Vriska had decided a tiny, half-human version of her would be awful and too difficult to manage. And besides, moms were supposed to be their daughters' role models… She was an awful person, there was no way she could be a role model! John would be a much better one, anyway.

She sighed as she glanced at the ultrasound picture taped to the fridge. Peanut had gotten so much bigger since last time, and she could tell without the ultrasound. It was annoying, because she couldn't lay on her stomach and she could barely fit into her pants. Scratch kind of, it was  _really_  annoying.

After the sausage had finished cooking, Vriska took the pan off the eye and looked at the timer. The biscuits still had five minutes left. She had just enough time to start up her laptop and begin drafting a blog post for that day.

John had somehow convinced Vriska to start up a blog. Of course, she didn't know this, but one of the main reasons was so she would have someone—thing—other than John to complain to, especially later in the pregnancy when she would be  _really_  irritated. And it was an easy way to pass the time.

Right as she logged into her Tumblr account, the timer dinged. Vriska groaned as she got up out of her chair and walked back to the oven. At that moment, John walked out of the bedroom, already dressed.

"Just in time." Vriska set the tray full of hot, crispy, golden Pillsbury biscuits on the stovetop and took off the oven mitts.

"Thanks, babe." John gave Vriska a quick kiss as he put a biscuit and a sausage patty on his plate. "It smells good."

"At least  _you_  think so." Vriska put one of each on her plate as well. "They smell awful, but I'm really hungry and I want one."

John laughed and rolled his eyes a little. "Oh, today I only have to work two hours after my classes," he told her. "I should be home by 4:30, and then we'll go out to eat."

"Alright." Vriska sat back down at the table and resumed Tumbling. "I think I'll be back about the same time."

"Oh yeah." John swallowed a mouthful and took a sip of orange juice. "I forgot to ask last week, what did your boss say?"

"She was surprisingly excited about it. She also said she's willing to reduce my hours or let me work part-time as needed."

Vriska was very thankful her boss, who was also the owner of the restaurant, was very understanding. It honestly shocked her, though, as many employers tend to think that pregnant women can't do as much.

"Oh, that's good." John sighed and finished his breakfast. "Alright, I guess I'm off! Have a great day, okay?"

"I will." Vriska gave John a kiss and a smile. "See you tonight."

John smiled as well. "Bye."

Vriska waved as John left their apartment. But as soon as he left, she sighed and practically face-palmed. Even though his dad had been nicer to her, and vice versa, she still never looked forward to seeing Mr. Egbert.

But, he  _was_  paying for dinner…

* * *

**-5:39 pm/Outback Steakhouse-**

"So, have you two decided on names yet?" Mr. Egbert asked. For once he was generally curious, not just making small talk to keep things peaceful between him and Vriska.

"Not yet, but we've picked out a few things." Vriska paused, taking a sip of Coke. "We actually find out what it is on Tuesday."

Mr. Egbert smiled and nodded. For once he was actually on the same page as Vriska, as he wanted a grandson. A granddaughter would be likely to follow in Vriska's footsteps, and to him that wasn't a good thing.

"So other than that, not much is going on," John told his dad. "It's been pretty calm around here, actually."

"I guess that's a good thing, because neither of you need the stress."

"Oh, we have plenty of stress already." Vriska laughed a little. "Any more would be awful."

John's dad accidentally gave an obviously nervous laugh, and quickly turned his head toward the waitress who was bringing over a tray of food.

"Alright, here's everyone's food…" The waitress gave John, Vriska, and Mr. Egbert their plates of food. "Can I get you anything?"

"Oh!" Vriska raised her hand a little, smiling. "Do you have any jalapeños?"

* * *

**-Friday, April 15, 6:06 pm/Bridals by Michelle ~ Bridal & Formal Wear/19 weeks-**

"What if the dress doesn't fit?" Vriska wondered aloud. "What if it fits today, but doesn't fit next Saturday?"

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Kanaya reassured her. "You could always have the dress altered if things don't work out."

"It costs too much money!" Vriska slammed the car door and began walking toward the shop door. "Terezi. Are you coming?"

"Yeah." Terezi sighed and ran to catch up with Vriska and Kanaya.

"Hi!" A lady at the front desk smiled as the three trolls walked into the bridal shop. "How may I help you?"

"I have an appointment at 6:15?"

"Okay…" The lady hummed to herself as she pulled up something on the computer. "Ms. Serket?"

"Yes."

"Alright. If you'll just sit down, someone will be with you shortly."

Vriska, Terezi, and Kanaya sat down in the small sitting area opposite the desk. As Vriska wasn't one to just make small talk, she and the others just kind of sat there until a lady came out of the back.

"Hello!" This lady smiled even brighter than the one at the front desk. "How are you all today?"

"We're fine." Vriska brushed off her jeans and stood up.

"That's…good." The lady brightened up her smile once again. "Now, if you'll just follow me…"

She took Vriska, Terezi, and Kanaya upstairs, where a long row of dressing rooms sat. Two or three were already occupied, and the lady brought Vriska into an empty one.

"Alright, I'll be right back with your dress," she told her.

Vriska sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Goddammit, the dress wasn't going to fit. She had "that feeling" in her stomach. Of course, "that feeling" could have just been Peanut…no, it was "that feeling".

"Alrighty." The lady came into the dressing room and hung Vriska's dress on a hook. "Okay, if you'll just undress—"

"Wait." Vriska hesitated. "I forgot to mention a… _small_  problem…"

"Yes?" The lady looked at Vriska with curiosity.

"Well…you see, I'm pregnant. I meant to get a refitting scheduled earlier, but I was in the hospital for a week, and I'm looking for a house with my fiancé—"

"How far along are you?"

"17 weeks. 18 by the time of the wedding."

"Okay."

Vriska could tell the lady want too happy about her "small problem", but she really couldn't help it.

The lady had Vriska step into the dress. "How does it feel?"

"It's…a little tight." Vriska pulled the dress up over her boobs a little more.

"I haven't even zipped it up yet."

"Oh."

After struggling with the zipper, the lady sighed. "Well," she announced, "it doesn't look like it's going to go up all the way."

"Dammit!" Vriska sighed with frustration and followed the lady out of the dressing room.

Kanaya gasped. "Vriska, it looks gorgeous!" she exclaimed.

"It's so pretty!" Terezi agreed.

"Yeah, well…" Vriska smiled sarcastically. "It won't zip."

"…Oh…"

"Let me go get our alterations manager," the lady said to Vriska. "I'll be right back." She turned around and left.

"Well." Vriska sat down on the bench next to Kanaya and sighed. "There goes another several hundred dollars."

"Although, I wonder…" Kanaya began mumbling to herself. "They might let us…I'll have to ask…"

"What?"

Kanaya opened her mouth to say something, but the lady walked back in and cut her off.

"Alright." She gestured to another lady, this one much older. "This is Shana, our alterations manager."

Vriska stood and shook her hand. "Hi."

"Let's see..." Shana motioned for Vriska to turn around and tried the zipper again. "I think we might be able to—"

"Excuse me." Kanaya smiled from embarrassment. "I hate to interrupt, but I think I can take another task off your hands and make the alterations myself."

"Are you sure?" Shana asked. "Well…what do you have in mind, then? I want to make sure we're on the same page here."

"I was planning on removing the zipper and clasp, and adding a triangular panel to the back to turn it into a lace-up."

"Oh!" Both the alterations manager and the other lady looked surprised. "Are you sure you're able to tackle this all by yourself?"

"She has a ton of experience, actually," Terezi said.

"Well, if you're comfortable with altering it yourself, that's fine with us." Shana shrugged.

"Yes, that  _would_  save us a lot of trouble..." The other lady paused. "Okay. Let's take it off, and well get it ready for you to take home!"


	13. It's a...House?

- **Saturday, April 16, 11:16 am/John & Vriska's car-**

"There isn't going to be anything in our price range!" Vriska complained for the third time since getting in the car. Today, she and John were going with a realtor to go check out some houses, and she knew that the houses within their price range were either run-down or ridiculously small.

"Vris, if there wasn't anything in our price range, the realtor wouldn't be taking us anywhere." John rolled his eyes again. He knew how stressed Vriska was about everything, but it was  _really_  beginning to get on his nerves. "I'm sure Marisa has chosen some houses she thinks we'd like."

"She doesn't know what we'd like!"

John sighed and continued driving. "God help me," he mumbled.

After driving for a few more minutes in silence, the car finally pulled into a small driveway. The realtor's car was already there, as she was inside making sure she had all the house information together.

"C'mon." John got out and opened Vriska's door for her. "Marisa's been waiting for us," he told her as he waited for her to get out.

"Okay." Vriska grabbed her purse and followed John inside.

"Oh, hi!" Marisa Yanez, the couple's realtor, smiled and stood up. "How are both of you today?"

"We're great, how about you?" John smiled back, nudging Vriska to do the same.

"I'm fine." Marisa walked back over to the kitchen table and looked at some papers. "Alright, this is the first house."

"Oh." The tone in Vriska's voice instantly dropped as she grimaced.

"Vriska!" John gently nudged his fiancée in the side as they followed their realtor into the living room and up the stairs.

"So, this is obviously the master bedroom," Marisa told the couple. "It's a nice size, in my opinion, and it looks out onto the street, which I also like."

"Where's the master bath?" John asked her. He noticed there was only one other door besides the entrance to the room, and assumed it was the closet.

"Oh, well, actually…" Marisa motioned for the couple to follow her down the hallway. "…there's only one bathroom on this floor." She walked into the large bathroom, John and Vriska following. "It's a very large bathroom, so you'd have plenty of room for yourselves, as well as kids, family, et cetera…"

"Okay." John tried not to show it, but he really didn't like only one bathroom. He knew Vriska wasn't thrilled about it either.

The house also didn't have a study or office, so John wouldn't be able to work or study in peace. After finishing up the house with Marisa, the couple had decided they weren't interested in the house.

"Alright, well, I have several more lined up for today," Marisa told them. "I'm sure we'll find something."

"Okay." John paused. "Oh, would you mind if we picked up something to eat on the way over?"

"Oh, not at all! I'll just give you the address and I'll meet you over there."

"Thanks so much."

* * *

Half an hour later, the soon-to-be-Egberts pulled into the driveway of house number two, Vriska finishing up her Wendy's large fries dipped in a chocolate frosty.

"Mm." Vriska swallowed her last fry and tossed the empty frosty cup into the paper sack. "Are you ready?"

"Oh!" John exclaimed as he opened the car door. "Yeah."

"Maybe this one won't be a disappointment," Vriska said hopefully. "I can't wait to get out of that apartment."

"I'm right there with you." John locked his car and went up to the front door with Vriska.

"Hi again!" Marisa smiled and stood up. "What do you think of this one so far?"

"It's  _so_  much better than the last one," Vriska said as she breathed a sigh of relief. "It looks  _so_  much roomier."

"And this one has two upstairs bathrooms, I hope?" John asked with a laugh.

Marisa laughed in response. "It does! Here, let's go check them out."

John and Vriska both agreed, house number two was so much better than house number one. The layout was so much better, and it didn't look like much needed to be done.

"So, what did you think of this one?" Marisa asked at the end of their "tour". "Does this one look like a possibility?"

John smiled at Vriska. " I think it does."

"That's great!" Marisa paused to write some stuff down on her clipboard. "Alright, I have two more to show you today…"

* * *

The third one didn't take too long— they didn't like this one even more than they didn't like the first. The ceilings were too low, the yard was tiny, and the kitchen design was extremely inconvenient. There was also a  _very_  unhappy dog next door. It just wouldn't be good for a family with a young child.

An hour after leaving house number three, John and Vriska finally arrived at house number four.

"Hey," John whispered to Vriska, "isn't this across the street from Karkat and Terezi?"

"Um..." Vriska thought for a moment. "Yeah, it is. Oh my god, it is."

"Alright!" Marisa sighed. "This is the last house today."

"Finally."

Vriska was the first to enter the fourth house, and was really surprised. What appeared to be an average size, maybe slightly smaller, house on the outside, was huge on the inside. The layout made good use of space and didn't seem like rooms were thrown in random places. The kitchen wasn't separated from the living room, rather, it flowed into it. The stairs were in the area where the kitchen transitioned into the living room, and either a closet or a door to the basement was on the other side.

"What do you think of it so far?" Marisa asked.

"This is—wow." Vriska laughed a little. "This is the best one all day."

"You really think so?"

"I agree." John followed Vriska into the kitchen. "This is anything  _but_  what we thought we would get in our price range."

"The only downside, I would say, is there's no specific dining room, but I understand dining rooms are becoming outdated," Marisa told them.

"Yeah, we don't really care about a dining room." Vriska smiled. "I wanna see what's upstairs!"

Upstairs was promising. There were three bedrooms, a master bath, and an upstairs bathroom. Each bedroom had its own closet, and a linen closet was in the hallway.

It turned out the door behind the stairs led to the basement which, although unfinished, had a lot to offer. It had a lot of potential as a rec room or a fourth bedroom, probably both.

Back on the main floor, a hallway led to a bathroom and an office. Overall, the house was very well-designed and spacious.

"So what do you think of this one?" Marisa asked when they had finished.

"I think this is the one," Vriska said with a smile.

"Are you sure?" John asked her. "I really like this one as well, but there may be something better out there…"

"I probably should mention this house has several other offers on it already," the realtor told them, "the highest, being $199,000."

"$199,000..." John sighed. "Vris, I'm not sure we can afford this, unless I can convince my dad to help us out a little."

"Please, John?"

"We should think about it overnight."

"Please, can we just place an offer?  _Please_?"

"It could be gone tomorrow," Marisa chimed in. "That's happened to several of my clients before, unfortunately."

"How much of an offer do you want us to place, Vriska?"

"205 sounds good."

"Vris, that's too—"

"Please, John?" Vriska put her hand on her stomach. "I think the baby would be happiest here."

"Well—"

"Please?"

John sighed. "—alright. We'll place an offer."

* * *

 **-10:28 pm/John & Vriska's apartment**-

"I think today went well," John remarked as he got into bed next to Vriska.

"I didn't think we would place an offer after just one day of looking." Vriska scooted under the sheets, about to make another comment, but stopped.

"…John?"

"What is it?" John sat up, clearly concerned for his fiancée. "Is something wrong?"

"I just felt something…weird..." Vriska placed her hand on her very noticeable baby bump.

"What do you mean, 'weird'? Does it hurt?"

"No, it's kind of hard to—there it was again! I guess it's kind of like butterflies?"

"Oh!" John laughed. "Vris, that's just Peanut."

"What's it doing?"

"Vriska, did you seriously think that babies just chill out in there?" He laughed again. "Babies need to move around, even before they're born!"

"Wow..." Vriska gave a laugh. "I guess I'll just have to get used to it, then."

"Yeah, but I'll bet it's pretty cool." John gave Vriska a kiss. "'Night."

* * *

- **Tuesday, April 18, 5:24 pm/Maple Valley Regional Hospital** -

"Stop being so nervous!" Vriska laughed. "We might get to find out what Peanut is today! You don't need to be nervous!"

"I know, but..." John tapped his foot, looking around the waiting room. "It might change my thought process about everything, and that's scary."

"Ms. Serket?" A nurse looked up from her clipboard as John and Vriska stood up. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing well." Vriska followed the nurse into the back, where she was led to a room.

"Dr. Browne will be with you shortly," the nurse told Vriska before she left.

"Thanks." The door closed and Vriska turned to John, her hand on her stomach. "I hope Peanut's okay."

"I'm sure Peanut's fine." John's eyes nervously darted around the room. "I hope Peanut's fine."

The two heard a knock on the door before the door opened.

"That was fast," Vriska commented.

"Tuesday evenings aren't very busy for some reason." Dr. Browne smiled as she sat down on the stool. "So what's been going on lately?"

"Um, not much, actually."

"Have you felt the baby move at all?"

"Ever since Saturday."

Dr. Browne smiled. "That's great. Now, I understand you'll be flying somewhere soon?"

"Yes," Vriska replied. "We leave for our honeymoon this Sunday."

"That'll be fun. Now, it's safe to fly up to seven months, so you'll be fine, just call if you have any concerns. How's your morning sickness?"

"It's…a lot better, actually."

"That's good, you should stop having any at about 20 weeks."

"Good."

Dr. Browne wrote some stuff on her clipboard before looking back up at Vriska. "Okay, complaints, comments, concerns…?"

"Will we be able to find out the gender today?" John blurted by mistake.

The doctor smiled. "It's not guaranteed, but we might. Every pregnancy is different, some women find out at 16 weeks, others at 20, it just depends on the position of the baby and when the appointment is scheduled." She paused. "Now let's go see if we can figure out what this baby is."

Vriska flinched a bit as Dr. Browne moved the wand around on her stomach and watched the monitor as the image appeared. Wow, Peanut actually looked like a person now. It had tiny arms and legs, and was very obviously moving around in there.

Dr. Browne moved the wand toward the top of Vriska's bump and her eyes lit up. "Your baby's in the perfect position to know what it is," she said with a smile.

"Well?" Vriska and John smiled and craned their necks. "What is it?"

"It looks like your baby is a…"


	14. You May Now Kiss the Bride

**-Friday, April 22, 6:34 pm/Karkat & Terezi's house/18 weeks-**

John gave Vriska one final kiss before their wedding. "Good luck," he told her, a smile on his face.

"Tomorrow's going to be  _awful_!" Vriska whined. "I mean, I just  _know_  something's going to go wrong, and I still don't even know why I invited Nepeta and Equius because I still don't like either of them and I haven't seen them since Karkat and Terezi's wedding, and my dress isn't going to fit, and—"

"Calm down." John rubbed his soon-to-be-wife's shoulders. "I'm sure it's normal to think these things, although I'm not sure about regretting inviting someone…?, but yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Don't leave me!"

Ignoring Vriska's hormonal whining, John gave his fiancée a kiss. "I'll see you at the altar tomorrow. I love you."

"I love you too."

Vriska waved as John drove away with Karkat in the car. After picking up Dave, who had flown in from Houston, from the airport, the three were going to go back to John and Vriska's apartment to hang out and stuff before the big day. Sort of like a miniature bachelor party.

Vriska, Terezi, and Kanaya were doing that too, except it would involve a lot more estrogen and lipstick. Kanaya had finished the dress alterations the day before, and Vriska needed to try the dress on in case it needed any last-minute fixes. Terezi would do her best to coach Vriska on what to do at the altar, even though she had rehearsed it numerous times both out loud and in her head.

After making sure she, as well as Terezi and Kanaya, had everything together, Vriska finally managed to calm down some. But, of course, that didn't last long, as she suddenly came to the realization that tomorrow, she would be Mrs. John Egbert.

* * *

**-Saturday, April 23, 8:57 am/Karkat and Terezi's house-**

"Vriska, you need to get up!" Terezi hit Vriska upside the head with a pillow, which definitely made Vriska pay attention. "You're getting married in two and a half hours! You're going to be late!"

"Shut your trap, it's only nine. I'll have plenty of time." Vriska yawned and rolled off the couch. "What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you want for breakfast."

"Thanks for your help!" Vriska rolled her eyes and rubbed her lower back. "This thing is going to be the death of my good posture, that's for sure."

Terezi didn't answer, and Kanaya was in the kitchen.

"Okay, fine." Vriska out on her glasses and yawned as she walked into the kitchen.

"If you want enough time to do your hair and stuff, we'll need to leave in twenty minutes." Terezi had a hint of frustration in her voice as she got a carton of milk out of the fridge.

"What are you making?"

"Pancakes."

"Make sure to save me a few."

"Alright." Terezi began to heat up the pan as Vriska went into the bathroom to change out of her pajamas.

Vriska stared at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Sweatpants and yoga pants weren't going to cut it much longer. At only five months, Peanut was already too big. She would have to go out and buy maternity pants soon, even though she thought they were ugly and unflattering.

Oh, whatever. Maybe they would be comfortable.

"Vriska!" Terezi called from the kitchen. "The pancakes are finished! Hurry up, or you're going to be late!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Vriska rolled her eyes and turned off the bathroom light as she left.

After scarfing down her pancakes doused in maple and chocolate syrup, Vriska finally was hit with the realization that she  _was_  going to be late if she didn't hurry. So, she and the others hurried to gather their stuff before getting in the car.

"Are you ready?" Kanaya asked Vriska, a slight smile on her face.

"I guess, I don't know." Vriska looked out the window and sighed. "I don't even know what I'm going to do with my hair, does that count as ready?"

* * *

**-11:15 am/Crossroads United Methodist Church-**

"Fifteen minutes!" Terezi yelled as she opened the restroom door. "Are you almost finished?"

"I guess." Vriska coughed again and flushed the toilet. "Okay, I'm sort of ready now."

"Well hurry!"

Vriska wiped her mouth and washed her hands. Didn't Dr. Browne tell her she shouldn't be having morning sickness anymore?! Well, obviously that wasn't true.

She rushed back into the bride's room and practically yanked her dress off its hanger. "Vriska, be careful," Kanaya reminded her.

"I know, I know, I'm not stupid. Now could you help me here?!"

Kanaya unlaced the back and helped Vriska slide the dress on. Vriska grunted when Kanaya pulled the laces tighter, but finally let out a sigh of relief when Kanaya tied it.

"Vriska, you have five minutes!"

"I know, Terezi, I have to finish fixing my hair!" Vriska sighed with frustration as she ran her fingers through the loose part of her half-bun and stuck in some blue flowers.

Despite her efforts to be quick, fixing her hair again took about ten minutes. Vriska looked at the clock. 11:29. She needed to get her butt over to the sanctuary  _right now_.

"God fucking dammit!"

Vriska picked up the skirt of her dress and slid on her pumps. "I'm going to be late!"

"Calm down." Kanaya put her hand on Vriska's shoulder. "You're going to be fine."

"I can't be 'fine' when I'm late for my own wedding!"

"I think you smeared your lipstick," Terezi told Vriska.

"Shit!" Vriska took one last look in the mirror and wiped off the smeared lipstick before stepping out into the hallway.

Meanwhile in the sanctuary, John was impatiently waiting for his bride. Dave and Karkat were getting antsy as well. All three glanced at the clock in the back. It was almost 11:35. Vriska was almost five minutes late.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Vriska repeated the word over and over. As she got closer to the sanctuary, she switched to repeating it in her head.

"Finally!" The man standing by the door to the sanctuary breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you ladies would never show up!"

Vriska pushed Terezi and Kanaya into place. " _Don't_  fuck anything up," she whispered to both of them.

"Says the pregnant lady," Terezi scoffed.

Vriska elbowed Terezi as the pastor—Mr. Freeman—looked up, signaling the bridal party to walk out. The piano began to play processional music.

"Go!"

Terezi stumbled a bit as Vriska pushed her through the doors.

Kanaya followed soon after, and Vriska took a deep breath when the music changed to the bridal processional.

"Please rise," Mr. Freeman told everyone.

She breathed it out. "Here goes nothing."

The man opened the door for her and she stepped into the sanctuary.

John gazed into Vriska's eyes as she walked down the aisle. She didn't have a care in the world—all she cared about was John. All her worries about that day were gone. She didn't look at any of the attendees. All she did was gaze into her almost-husband's eyes.

She smiled and took his hands after handing her bouquet off to Kanaya.

"You may be seated." The wedding attendees sat down.

"Welcome all." Mr. Freeman nodded toward everyone. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the marriage of John and Vriska."

John smiled. Vriska blushed.

Mr. Freeman continued, preaching—rather, lecturing—everyone in the sanctuary about marriage.

"John, will you have this woman to be your wedded wife, to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, and forsaking all others, keep you only unto her, so long as you both shall live?"

John nodded. "I will."

Mr. Freeman turned to Vriska. "Vriska, will you have this man to be your wedded husband, to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, and forsaking all others, keep you only unto him, so long as you both shall live?"

"I will."

"Great." Mr. Freeman looked back down at his book. "Now, John, repeat after me: 'I, John Adam Egbert,'"

"I, John Adam Egbert,"

"'take you, Vriska Serket,'"

"take you, Vriska Serket,"

"'to be my wedded wife,'"

"to be my wedded wife,"

"'to have and to hold,'"

"to have and to hold,"

"'for better or for worse,'"

"for better or for worse,"

"'for richer or for poorer,'"

"for richer or for poorer,"

"'to love and to cherish, from this day forward.'"

"to love and to cherish, from this day forward."

The pastor turned to Vriska. "'I, Vriska Serket…'"

* * *

"With this ring, I thee wed." John placed the ring on Vriska's finger and she shivered with excitement.

"Vriska, please place the ring on John's finger and repeat after me: 'With this ring, I thee wed.'"

"With this ring, I thee wed."

Vriska slid the ring onto John's finger, gazing into his wonderful deep blue eyes. He gave her a toothy grin.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife!" Mr. Freeman paused for a long moment, obviously doing it on purpose.

"You may now kiss the bride!"

John pressed his lips against Vriska's. This kiss definitely seemed to have more "umph" in it…maybe it was because they were married now?

Vriska and John laughed as they smiled at everyone in the sanctuary. Everyone was cheering, many were taking pictures. Just one glance at each other, and they were kissing again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. John Egbert!"


	15. It's All in the Cake/And We're Off!

**-12:30 pm, Crossroads United Methodist Church Banquet Hall-**

John and Vriska smiled at all the people clapping and cheering for them. They weren't expecting pictures to take less than an hour. Many people were still eating their hors d'oevres/lunches (more like a giant buffet), and were, nevertheless, obviously waiting for the cake.

Since John hated cake so much—and since his now-wife was craving it—he and Vriska were going to cut a pizza instead of a cake. But don't think the couple were going to disappoint their guests. Mr. Egbert had made their wedding cake, and it looked awesome. A three-tier, white icing accented with blue candy flowers. The couple would cut a slice as well, but just for Vriska.

People took pictures as John and Vriska held the pizza cutter together and ran it up and down the pepperoni pizza several times. Each picked up a slice and fed it to the other; there was no need for words as their eyes and laughter told enough. The cake was cut soon after, and the newlyweds took a small break so they could finish their pizza and Vriska her cake.

"Welll..." Vriska smiled at John again. "We're married now!"

"Vris, you've said that five times already," John replied with a laugh.

"Well, what else is there to say?"

"A lot of things, like, 'I wonder if anyone has figured it out yet?' Hey, why don't we go around and find out?"

"Wait, let me finish my cake." Vriska finished her slice and got up to follow John around the large room.

"Hey, Vriska." Terezi stopped the couple from talking to everyone other than those in the wedding party. "Didn't John's dad make this?"

"Yeah."

"Why's it strawberry, though? Like, everything here is blue, blue, blue, and then it's just 'Oh, hey, strawberry'."

Vriska scoffed and adjusted her lace bolero. "You haven't figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out?"

Vriska glanced at John, smirking. "Terezi, the cake is strawberry because it's pink. And it's pink because we're having a girl."

"A girl…" Terezi repeated. "…okay. That's cool."

"Yeah, we were waiting until today to tell anyone other than John's dad. Oh, and don't tell anyone other than Karkat, because getting pregnant before you get married isn't exactly favorable here…"

"I don't know why I would." Terezi shrugged and went back to talk to Dave and Karkat.

No one else asked about the cake, it was just thought of as John and Vriska liking strawberry. Which was a good thing, because neither of them wanted to talk to any of the Egberts' friends about their personal lives anyway.

John and Vriska were about to finish up talking to the rest of their guests when Vriska accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh—" Vriska quickly turned around. "—holy shit."

"What?" Nepeta put her hands on her hips.

"You actually came. Oh my god, you actually came."

"I lived with you  _fur_  four months, I'm  _purr_ etty sure I would come." Although Nepeta was trying to sound indifferent to the situation, Vriska could detect the fear in her voice.

"Did you bring Equius?"

"He's over at the table."

"Mm, okay."

* * *

**(Okay forgive me for just randomly ending there but I have no ideas whatsoever so have a little summary of what else happened that day)**

After the reception was over, John and Vriska went back to their apartment smiling. What Vriska originally thought would be a total disaster actually turned out to be a near-flawless wedding and reception. The wedding party did exactly what they were supposed to do, and anyone who didn't know about Peanut didn't ask about her (even though quite a few people thought something was up). It was a very pleasant afternoon.

But once they arrived at the apartment, they couldn't really relax. All because they had to start packing for their honeymoon.

* * *

**-Sunday, April 24/11:09 am/Seattle-Tacoma International Airport-**

"Vris, c'mon! Don't you wanna have time to get something to eat before the flight boards?"

"Oh, why did I have to pack so much?" Vriska grunted as she continued to lug her suitcase to the kiosk. "We have over an hour before the flight leaves!"

"Yeah, but we still have to go through security and all that." John handed his suitcase to the attendant manning the kiosk and motioned for Vriska to do the same.

After finishing up with the luggage, the couple went through security and managed to get some Subway before the flight left. John sat there playing games on his iPhone while Vriska sat next to him reading the latest edition of  _What to Expect When You're Expecting_. It wasn't long before the two heard the longly-anticipated words on the intercom:

"Delta flight number 243 to Chicago, now boarding!"


	16. Adventures in the Windy City - Part 1

**-2:01 pm/Delta flight #243 to Chicago-**

"Excuse me—sorry—!" Vriska managed to squeeze past the people with aisle seats, who were giving her dirty looks, and into the bathroom in the back.

Goddammit. It seemed like she had to use the bathroom every thirty minutes or something. It was starting to piss her off, as well as the other passengers on the plane. And she could only "hold it" for so long.

Meanwhile, John was (almost) impatiently waiting for Vriska to get back. They had been watching National Treasure on his tablet and he couldn't play it until she got back. A lot of the passengers had been giving them a dirty look, the same one they gave Vriska when she went the bathroom.

Vriska sighed as she sat back down next to John. Oh well. Maybe after they finished the movie, the rest of the flight would be okay.

* * *

**-5:47 pm/Hilton Garden Inn-**

"Alright, here are your room keys, and it's room 819." The concierge handed the key card envelope to John as she smiled.

"Thank you." John stuffed the envelope into his jacket pocket and grabbed his suitcase handle. He and Vriska then proceeded to board the elevator.

"People are so rude," Vriska commented as she scowled at the corner.

"What do you mean?" John asked. "The concierge—"

"I'm not talking about her, I'm talking about the assholes on the plane."

"Vriska…" John sighed and tried to give his wife the best hug he could give her without slamming his backpack into her. "People are always going to be like that and there's nothing you can do about it. People used to not like me just because I'm smart."

"I hate people." Vriska let out a long sigh before stepping off the elevator and starting off for their hotel room.

Five minutes later, John was unpacking his stuff and Vriska was testing the so-called "three-star" rated beds.

"I'm hungry," she told him. "When can we go out to eat?"

"Let me finish unpacking and stuff." John brought his toiletries into the bathroom and set them on the counter.

Vriska hopped off the bed and walked over to the sliding door that led onto the balcony. She pressed her nose against the glass and stared outside before actually noticing it was a door, then unlocked it and slid it open.

After John finished unpacking all he needed to unpack, he walked out of the bathroom and went to join Vriska on the balcony. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Everyone looks so tiny." Vriska leaned out a little further over the railing, John grabbing her arm to make sure she didn't lean  _too_  far.

"Heh, this high up, no kidding. Be careful." John smiled a crooked smile. "Now, where do you want go for dinner?"

"Since we just got here, somewhere nice but not overkill." Vriska smiled back before pecking John's lips.

"Perfect."

* * *

**-6:56 pm/Giordano's Pizza-**

"So...have you thought of any names for Peanut yet?" Vriska asked. She nervously twirled her hair before taking another bite of pizza. She really hadn't given it much thought, and didn't want to come across to John as not caring about their child.

"Um, not many, but I have written a few down…" John pulled out his phone and opened up the notes, where he kept a list of possible names for Peanut.

"Well? What are they?"

"Let's see…I have Grace—"

"No."

"—Sophia—"

"Do you know how many times I've heard that name while working?!"

"—Victoria—"

"Oh, um, well...maybe as a middle name?"

John sighed. "Maybe we should wait to discuss this in the hotel room."

"That sounds like an awesome idea."

* * *

**-7:41 pm/Some random maternity shop-**

"All of these clothes are so ugly!" Vriska whined as she flipped through the numerous racks of clothing. "All the attractive ones are over a hundred dollars! I'm  _never_  going to find anything!"

"Maybe we should just find a Target or something." John looked up from his phone and sighed. Being male, he didn't really care about fashion, or maternity clothes, for that matter, but did care about his wife. "I can look up the closest one."

"Yeah, but we don't have a car to drive over there, dimwit! And I'm sure as hell not walking over there!"

The other customers were staring at John and Vriska with looks of disgust on their faces. John knew Vriska had the tendency to "get loud" and sometimes angry, an her pregnancy mood swings weren't helping. He was beginning to get embarrassed.

"Maybe we should go back to the hotel." John locked his phone and put it in his jacket pocket. "You don't  _have_  to buy clothes now. There's maternity shops in Seattle."

"No, I'm  _going_  to leave with something." Vriska rolled her eyes and jumped to another rack.

* * *

**-9:03 pm/Hilton Garden Inn-**

"I don't think we'll ever name this child." Vriska sighed as she got into the bed next to John.

"Well, we still have four months at  _the most_." John sighed as well and stared at the ceiling. "I've always liked the name Casey, though."

"Casey? Didn't you used to have a salamander named Casey?"

"Well—yeah, but…I've always thought it was cute."

Vriska shrugged. "It sounds a bit boyish, though. I think it should be short for something…" She thought for a moment. "…Cassidy!"

"Oh my god, no."

"What do you have against that?"

"It all goes back to middle school…don't ask."

"What about Cassandra?"

"Yeah, but wouldn't that be shortened to Cassie?"

"Cassie?—Uh, not necessarily."

John instantly sat up. "That's it."

"What? Cassie? Cassandra?"

"No. Cassia."

"Cassia…!" Vriska smiled. "Oh my god, it's six letters too. Egbert is also six letters!"

"Six letters?"

"All trolls have six letter first and last names."

"Cassia Egbert." John gave Vriska a kiss. "Casey Egbert. What about a middle name?"

"We can think of that later." Vriska beamed again. "I can't wait for tomorrow."

"And we already got Peanut's name checked off the list." John gave Vriska another kiss. "'Night."


	17. Adventures in the Windy City - Part 2

**-Monday, April 25, 12:34 pm/Olive Garden-**

"So…have you talked to your dad at all?" Vriska asked. She twirled her linguine around the prongs of her fork as she stared at her plate. Mr. Egbert was still a touchy subject for her, even though they had recently been nicer to each other. But she had to ask. Mr. Egbert was her father-in-law now.

"Not since we got here. He has to work, and besides, he told me we need to have time to ourselves while we can."

"Mm, okay." Vriska sighed. "I just can't wait to tell him about Casey!"

"Let's wait until we get back to tell him. It'll be more fun to tell him in person."

"So what are we doing today?" Vriska was actually curious about it. Despite their near-failure shopping trip the day before (Vriska ended up buying a couple of shirts), she had actually enjoyed their evening. What fun things had John planned for Monday?!

John smirked. "Who said I was going to tell you? It's a surprise!"

"Fine, fine."

* * *

**-2:02 pm/Millenium Park-**

John and Vriska walked through a park downtown, just talking. Talking about the baby, talking about being married, just talking in general.

"Do you think your dad might have middle name suggestions?" Vriska asked. "I'm kind of stuck on it, but I know we still have four months…"

"He might, I don't know. I know that when my mom was pregnant with me she and my dad didn't want to find out what I was—well, am—so they picked out names for both genders. But it's been so long he might've forgotten. I wish my mom were still alive; she would've remembered." John sighed, glancing up at the skycrapers encircling the park.

"If you don't mind me asking…" Vriska hesitated. Although they were now married, she still didn't want to hurt John's feelings by getting into his personal business. "…what was having an actual mom like?"

"Um, well…she died when I wasn't even six yet, so it's been over fourteen years." John smiled a bit. "She used to take me to school every morning, and we would wait for my dad to get home from work together, and she loved to bake cakes with my dad, and…" He let out a sigh. "She was the best lady in the world. I miss her."

"She sounds better than my pitiful excuse for a mother. I would've loved to meet her."

John's smile grew larger. "I wish she could meet you too."

Vriska smiled back, about to make another remark, but soon her smile instantly faded. She hadn't felt the same feeling in her stomach for a couple of days. Saturday, to be exact. She could feel the acidic vomit slowly crawling back up her throat.

"Oh god…"

"Vris, what is it?"

Her eyes darted around the somewhat open landscape, searching for a trash can. After locating the nearest one, she weaved in and out of the other people and ran up to it.

Nearly everyone in that particular area of the park stared at the strange-looking young woman vomiting into a trash can. Once she wiped her mouth with her arm, she realized John was standing by her side.

"Are you okay?" he asked, putting his hand on his wife's back.

"I…I think I need to lay down." Vriska looked up at John before coughing up the last bit of vomit left in her stomach.

"Let's head back to the hotel, okay?" John put his arms around Vriska and began leading her back to their hotel.

* * *

**-2:37 pm/Hilton Garden Inn-**

Vriska groaned and rolled onto her other side, her hand casually resting on her stomach. "I'm never eating at Olive Garden ever again," she thought.

John was in the bathroom talking to his dad. She could overhear what he was saying.

"…yeah, we did a little bit of shopping this morning, then ate at Olive Garden, and then we walked around in a park some before coming back over here. Yeah. Mm-hm. Yeah, I was planning for us to go over to Navy Pier after the park, but since she's not feeling well we might just take it easy for a while before leaving…"

Oh, so they  _were_  going to do more fun stuff that day? Vriska wished her stomach would settle quicker so they could go back out. But, maybe taking it easy for a bit wasn't such a bad idea.

* * *

**-4:21 pm/Navy Pier-**

"So I was thinking we could go take a river tour, which will be about an hour, then go eat, and that'll give us just enough time to ride the Ferris wheel and walk around," John told his wife.

"Sounds good to me."

"We'd better hurry; the next boat leaves at 4:30."

Thankfully the boarding dock was a very short walk away, only about two minutes. John and Vriska got their tickets and proceeded to board the boat.

John's phone buzzed repetitively in his pocket. "Crap," he mumbled, digging it out of his pocket. He would've ignored it, but seeing who it was made him change his mind.

"Hi, Marisa…!" He was caught a bit off-guard by the phone call. "Okay? Oh really? Alright, well, we're on our honeymoon and a tour's about to start, so I guess I will call you back later to talk more in-depth about it, okay? Okay. Bye."

Vriska looked at John. "That was the realtor, right? What'd she say?"

"Well…" John took a deep breath.

"We didn't get the house, did we."

"We got the house!"

"Oh my god!" Vriska almost squealed, something she rarely did. She somehow managed to throw her arms around her husband, for once not caring about the stares of the others. "Casey's going to  _love_  the house."

"I know Casey'll be happy." John smiled at Vriska before looking up at the tour guide picking up a microphone.

"Hi everyone, my name is Daniel, and I'm gonna be your tour guide today…"

* * *

**-7:05 pm/Navy Pier Ferris Wheel-**

"We're so high up..." Vriska pressed her nose against the window of the gondola, staring at the lit-up ground below.

"Don't do that, it's probably dirty." John couldn't help but laugh a little.

"What if it breaks, John?"

"It's not going to break, I promise. Everything will be fine."

"You don't know that!"

"Why don't we just enjoy the nice view?" John sighed and stared out the window. Why was Vriska so difficult sometimes?

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Vriska's irritated tone had now transformed into something rather childish.

"I think tomorrow will just be an easy day. With  _no_  Olive Garden."

Vriska giggled. "I'm never eating Olive Garden ever again!"


	18. An Announcement

**-Wednesday, April 27, 7:13 pm/Seattle-Tacoma International Airport-**

"Okay, my dad says he'll be waiting at the baggage claims at about 7:30," John told Vriska.

"Can I pee first?"

"Go ahead."

John waited outside while Vriska went to the bathroom. About five minutes later, she came back out.

"What took you so long?" John asked. He looked up from his phone after he replied to Dave's text.

"Pea— _Casey_."

"Ah." John smiled and put his phone back into his pocket. "C'mon, we'd better hurry up before my dad gets here."

* * *

**-7:47 pm/Mr. Egbert's car-**

"So how was Chicago?" John's dad had a hint of a smile as he looked in the rear view mirror to see Vriska's face.

"It was cold." Vriska sighed as she unbuckled her seat belt to take off her jacket.

"But it was fun," John added. He smiled. "Oh, on Monday we got a call from our realtor."

"And?"

"We got the house we wanted!"

"That's great, son." Mr. Egbert smiled a bit more. "Anything else you wanted to tell me?"

John turned around. "Vris?"

"Oh!" Vriska perked up and beamed. " _Weeeeeeeell_ …we picked out the name for the baby!"

"And what will the name of my lovely granddaughter be?"

"We've decided we're going to name her Cassia. Casey for short."

"Oh really?" Mr. Egbert looked over at his son. "John, why are you naming your daughter after the pet salamander you had in middle school?!" he whispered.

"'Cassia' goes along with Alternian tradition. 'Casey' is just a name I like."

"Alrighty then..." Mr. Egbert didn't quite know how to respond to that. He just figured his son and daughter-in-law knew what they were doing.

* * *

**-Saturday, April 30, 5:34 pm/John & Vriska's apartment/19 weeks-**

"Karkat and Terezi invited us over!" John called from the tiny kitchen.

Vriska poked her head out of the bedroom, a confused look on her face. "They... _invited_  us?"

"Karkat said it was more of Kanaya's idea." John shrugged. "I don't know why she's still here."

"Maybe she wants to say bye or something." Vriska paused. "Alright, let me get changed."

* * *

**-5:56 pm/Karkat & Terezi's house-**

John and Vriska stepped inside the chocolate-colored, Victorian-style house. It no longer smelled like sawdust, thankfully, but it now smelled like fresh paint.

"Oh my god…" Vriska held her breath. Although the stench wasn't necessarily nauseating, it still smelled awful. "Could we eat outside?" she called.

"Well, 'hi' to you too." Terezi rolled her eyes as she appeared in the foyer. "Why do you want to eat outside?"

"I'm sure it's not healthy for me to be breathing in these 'toxic fumes'."

"If you say so." Terezi had learned, after living with her sort-of-kind-of-almost-not-really-kismesis for almost half a year, that it was best to go along with whatever Vriska suggested, unless it was potentially dangerous or illegal. "We don't have a table or chairs outside, so you'll have to sit on the steps."

"Anything to get me out of here." Vriska immediately turned around and walked back out onto the porch.

"Vris..." John followed his wife. "Our house is gonna smell exactly like that when we start painting." He sat down next to her on the porch steps. "Did you think we'd wait until after the baby is born to start doing stuff?"

"Who said we're going to start painting immediately?"

"Um, just about everyone who has moved into a house while expecting a baby."

"Well, fuck them."

John sighed. "Vriska, we have four months, maybe less to get everything together for Casey. We should already be shopping for furniture for the nursery."

"I don't have time to buy any of that stuff. I have to work to actually make the money to buy that stuff."

John was about to make another comment, but soon the other three trolls came out onto the porch as well.

It was silent for quite a long time. No one knew what to say to Vriska. She was already moody enough by herself—who knew how bad pregnancy hormones could make her?

"Hello, Vriska." Kanaya smiled and sat down next to the blue-blooded troll. "Have you been feeling any better since I saw you last?"

"Yeah." Vriska sighed before turning around to look at Karkat and Terezi. "Where's the food?"

"We just ordered pizza."

"Well, excuse me, I did not come here for pizza."

"Well what were you expecting?! Steak?!" Karkat gave an irritated glance to Terezi, who just shrugged in response.

"Maybe." Vriska stood up. "Maybe we should eat on the  _back_  porch. I feel like everyone's staring at me."

"Everyone  _is_  staring at you, dumbass!"

Although he knew hormones were a thing, John couldn't help but roll his eyes and facepalm at Vriska and Karkat's "mini-conversation". The couple already got enough stares just from Vriska being a troll, the stares from their soon-to-be neighbors and people walking their dogs weren't helping.

"You'll have to go through the house, though," Terezi told Vriska. "I swear the only reason we were able to afford this house is because about half of it consists of rotting wood, and that includes the porch."

After the group relocated to the back porch, John helped Karkat bring some chairs to fulfill Vriska's request. "I don't wanna sit on the steps," she told them. There weren't enough chairs for everyone; someone was going to have to sit on the steps.

Not long after that, the pizza arrived. Vriska was very disappointed they hadn't ordered pineapple and anchovy pizza, but her hunger took over and she devoured three slices of pepperoni pizza in less than five minutes.

"Well, now that things have settled down, I think I should tell you all something." Kanaya had a hinting smile on her face.

"And what might that be?" Vriska leaned back in her chair and placed her hand on her bulging stomach.

"Well..." Kanaya paused for effect. "I have decided to stay."

"What?!" Vriska shot up out of her chair, spilling about half of her drink in the process. "What do you mean, you're staying?!"

"I mean exactly what I said. I'm staying."

"Yeah, but are you sure you'll be able to afford it?!"

"I've already applied for a job at a local boutique. And I was awfully surprised at this, but Rose said after she finishes out her studies this year she'll fly here and we'll share the condo her mother owns." Kanaya blushed. "It was a rather impromptu decision, but I'm happy the situation has worked itself out."

"So much happening in so little time..." Vriska groaned. "I want to lay down."


	19. Almost-Mother's Day

**-Sunday, May 8, 8:57 am/John & Vriska's apartment/21 weeks-**

"Happy Mother's Day, Vriska." John smiled and gave his wife a kiss.

Vriska smiled, trying not to yawn. "Thanks."

"I got you a little something. Wait here."

"Okay…" Vriska sat up in bed and looked around the room as John went into the kitchen. After rubbing her eyes, she put her glasses on.

"Here we go." John sat down on the bed, smiling, and handed Vriska a pink envelope.

Vriska tore into it and pulled out a card. "Happy almost-Mother's Day," it simply read on the front.

She smiled as she read what was on the inside. "Aww, thanks John."

"You're welcome." John smiled a warm smile, but then his eyes lit up. "Oh! I almost forgot something!"

"What is it?"

"Alright, Vriska. Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

"Okay…?" Vriska was a bit confused, but did as she was told anyway.

John smiled as he placed the small box in Vriska's hands. "Alright, you can open now."

"Oh my god..." Vriska smiled and started laughing. "John, I love you."

"Heh, I knew you had mentioned you wanted an iPhone..." John scratched his neck. "I hope you don't mind that it's the cheaper model."

"Who cares, John? It's blue!" Vriska threw her arms around her husband. "Thank you so much."

John smiled yet again. "I know it's early, but  _you_  need to start thinking about where we're going to eat lunch."

* * *

**-11:15 am/John's car-**

"Vris, do you mind if we stop somewhere…?" John let out a small sigh as he glanced at his wife.

"That's fine." Vriska turned to look out the window. The sky was clouding up.

"Good. I want to go before it starts raining."

The entire drive, Vriska wondered, "Where are we going?" John hasn't mentioned it beforehand. It must have been important; the tone in John's voice said so. It was silent as well, which began to make her uncomfortable.

"Here we are." John turned onto a road lined with trees and drove through an open iron-wrought gate. "It won't be long, I promise."

"Why are we at the cemetery?" Vriska wondered aloud. She had a slight expression of disgust on her face. When she realized John was looking at her, she blushed and turned away.

"Since it's Mother's Day, I thought I'd go visit my mom."

Vriska just nodded and continued to stare out the window. Row after row of tombstones passed by as John drove to the other side of the cemetery.

"You don't have to come with me if you don't want to," John told her.

"No, I want to."

John pulled the car to the side of the road and parked before he and Vriska got out. The two were silent as they weaved in and out of the tombstones.

"Here we are." John stopped at a large tombstone situated under a Japanese maple tree. He bent down and set a small pot of flowers upright, brushing some spilled potting soil off the blot.

"Your mom's name was Margaret?" Vriska asked. She followed John's example and squatted next to him.

A small smile formed on John's lips. "Yeah. Everyone called her Maggie."

"Maggie…" Vriska thought for a moment. "What do you think about Casey's middle name being Margaret?"

John laughed a little. "I'll consider it."

After a few more minutes of quiet chatting and reminiscing, the newlywed Egberts went back to their car.

"John?" The word escaped Vriska's mouth before she even realized it had.

"Yeah?"

"Um, well…I don't want to offend you or anything, but…how did your mom die?"

"Cancer." John sighed. "It's apparently genetic, too, but it was breast cancer, and I'm a guy, so…"

"Oh." Maybe Vriska's genes would be the dominant ones.

"Well, sorry if I made you depressed or anything." He laughed a little. "I just wanted to visit my mom since its Mother's Day."

"It's fine."

John smiled. "Now, I'm sure you're just as hungry as I am."

* * *

**-7:32 pm/Karkat & Terezi's house-**

"…and then we went out to eat, and then we went to set up my new phone, and—"

"Okay, I get it!" Terezi stopped when she realized she had screamed. "…Sorry."

On the other side of the line, Vriska crossed her arms. "And what did you do today?"

" _Well_ …this morning I wrote a four-page essay and I just finished waiting on tables for five hours!"

"Oh, that reminds me, I have to do the exact same thing tomorrow, minus the essay!"

Before Terezi could say anything else, Vriska just hung up.

"What did Vriska want?" Karkat popped his head out of the kitchen. He was making dinner, as he and Terezi didn't eat until about eight due to their jobs and college.

"She just called to brag about her new iPhone and to tell me about what an  _awesome_  Mother's Day she had." Terezi sighed and plopped down on the couch. "It isn't fair."

"Look, Terezi…" Karkat sighed and joined his wife on the couch. "It's not your fault we had a miscarriage."

"It's not 'we', it's 'me'! I was the one who carried those stupid eggs inside of me for, what? Two months?! Maybe if we had actually gone to the hospital, we would have two tiny…us-es running around!"

"Terezi, I didn't know what to do either. And…maybe it's a good thing we don't have kids. You know we can't afford it now, and it would be an inconvenience to us."

He hasn't realized Terezi was crying until she wiped her eyes and looked up at him.

"Maybe next year, we'll actually have a Mother's Day."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter kind of ties in with the epilogue of I'd Only Choose You :-/ Cause, you know...Karkat and Terezi...did it...


	20. A Talk

**-Wednesday, May 18, 3:03 pm/Red Dragon Chinese Bistro/22 weeks-**

"Why do you work two shifts again?" Terezi asked. She hung her handbag up and tied her apron around her waist.

"Why do  _you_  get here an hour before the evening shift starts?" Vriska laughed. "No, just kidding. I only work the extra shift two days a week because we need the extra money."

"Oh, like how I work two shifts five days a week because we can't afford anything?!"

Lately Terezi had become jealous of Vriska. And no, not just because Vriska was having a baby. Vriska had seemed so happy lately. She didn't have to worry about money as much because she married into a decently wealthy family. And what about Terezi? She could barely afford college, her house, or anything, for that matter. And she still didn't know if she would ever be able to have a child.

"Woah, Terezi. Calm your tits."

"Excuse me?!"

"Girls!" Mrs. Wilson-Lee poked her head inside the kitchen. "Are you being productive?"

Terezi glared at Vriska before washing her hands.

* * *

**-7:49 pm/Karkat & Terezi's house-**

"Terezi, are you alright?" Karkat reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "You've seemed depressed today."

Terezi laughed a little. "I don't know why I'm bothered by it so much. We're not even twenty, in human years."

"Is this about having kids again?"

"Well, it's…more about Vriska. I've…never seen her happier. Ever. And she didn't even want it to happen."

"Look..." Karkat sighed. "God, I'm sorry, but I really don't know what to do. I guess, maybe when we have a  _little_  more money we can try again."

"That's not helping me with my Vriska problem!" Terezi smiled a light smile, obviously in sarcasm. "It's…almost like she's doing it on purpose."

After thinking for a moment and picking at the food on his plate, Karkat finally thought of a possible solution to Terezi's problem. "Why don't we invite John and Vriska over to dinner this Friday? I know you don't really want to talk to Vriska, but maybe mentioning it to her and John will make them understand."

"I'll think about it." Terezi laid her head on the table, sighing. "I'll think about it."

* * *

**-Friday, May 20, 7:09 pm/23 weeks-**

"I'm home!" Terezi slammed the front door and threw her handbag on the floor. "Have you started making dinner yet?"

"It's almost ready. John said they'll be coming over at about 7:30."

"I'll go get changed."

Karkat went back to finishing up the pasta he was making as Terezi ran upstairs to their bedroom. He couldn't blame his wife for being upset about the loss of their children, but he thought it was probably a good thing. They  _really_  couldn't afford even just one more, and not to mention Terezi hadn't even "turned" nineteen yet when it happened.

He also wasn't sure about trying for another one, either. Although he had promised Terezi they would when they had a bit more money, he couldn't stop thinking about what an awful father he would be. Hell, their child's first word would probably be "fuck".

"Are you making anything else besides the pasta?" Terezi called as she ran down the stairs.

"I put in some bread." Karkat shrugged as he turned down the heat on the stove. "I also bought some lettuce this morning, if you'd be okay with salad."

"Yeah, that's fine." Terezi sighed and looked at the clock before sitting down in the living room. It was only 7:15…

About fifteen minutes later a knock was heard on the door. Since Karkat was busy taking the bread out of the oven, Terezi went to answer it.

"Terezi!"

Vriska smiled and squeezed the teal-blood in a hug. "Oh my god, how are you?!"

"Ow…you're suffocating me…" Terezi pushed the other troll off her. "I saw you earlier today."

"I'm sorry!" Vriska looked over at her husband. "C'mon, John, let's eat! I'm starving!"

As Vriska dragged John into the kitchen, he turned to Terezi and mouthed "I'm sorry".

Terezi just shrugged and followed the Egberts into her kitchen. "So how is…everything?"

"We picked out the name for the baby!" Vriska exclaimed. She sat down at the table, her hands resting on her stomach. "We're naming her Cassia."

"You've told me that five times already." Terezi went into the other room and dragged a fold-up plastic chair into the kitchen.

"When are you going to buy an actual table?" Vriska's perkiness was making Terezi very uncomfortable.

"Well, we've been saving up to buy one…about $500 more. We should have an actual table within a month and then we can throw this plastic one in the basement."

Karkat, who had been silent this whole time, brought over a large bowl of spaghetti and set it down in the middle of the table. Giving an acknowledging nod to John, he then went back over to the island and brought over the bread and salad.

"So…" Karkat still had trouble with so-called "friendly conversation" with anyone other than his wife. "When are you guys moving into your new house?"

"Well, we sign the papers for it on Tuesday," John told him, "so it should be within the next month."

"It'd better be," Vriska chimed in. "If Casey comes before the house that would be bad."

"Vriska, we'll have the house before then." John sighed and began scooping pasta onto his plate. He stopped for a moment to look at Karkat and Terezi. "I do have a question for you two, though."

"Yes?"

"You two have been married a lot longer than Vris and I have, obviously." John had a hint of a smile on his face. "When are you guys going to have kids?"

Terezi stopped. She wasn't expecting John to ask that question. And she was so sensitive to that topic. How was she going to explain the miscarriage to John and Vriska without looking weak?

"Well…actually..." Terezi's voice gradually faded into a whisper. "We did."

"You…did?" Vriska obviously misunderstood, because her eyes lit up. "Is Casey going to have a friend?"

"No." Terezi decided to be straightforward with her answer, but that didn't last long as her eyes began to water. "We… _did_  have some. Two. But…they didn't make it longer than a few minutes."

The entire house was silent other than a ticking clock on the mantle. Finally John decided to speak up.

"…Wow, I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't know. Sorry for asking."

"N-no, it's fine." Terezi wiped her eyes. "That was in August. I need to learn to get over it."

"Terezi—" Karkat placed his hand on her shoulder, about to say something, but was cut off.

"How long did you go without knowing?" Vriska was actually curious. I mean, c'mon. This was natural troll reproduction here. That hadn't happened since before the reset, probably longer.

John started to intervene. "Vriska—"

"No, I'm–I'm willing to explain." Terezi sighed before getting it together. "I actually didn't know until they…came out."

"But weren't you throwing up or something?"

"I only remember throwing up two or three times. And…I thought I had just gained a lot of weight, since…" She couldn't find the right words to finish her sentence. "I just thought I was having really bad cramps that day, so I just laid down and…took a hot bath, but..." She laughed a little. "That didn't do anything. Thank God Karkat was there." She flashed Karkat a tiny smile.

"Oh my…god..." Vriska sniffed, soon burying her face in John's shoulder.

"Is she okay…?" Karkat raised an eyebrow.

"Hormones." John patted Vriska's head in between her horns. "It's okay, Vris."

"But we  _are_  going to have one in the future." Terezi smiled a bit. "Just not soon. Maybe when we have more money, just not soon."


	21. Moving In

**-Saturday, June 3, 8:11 am/the Egberts' car/25 weeks-**

"I can't believe we're moving into our new house today!" Vriska did all she could to keep herself from squealing. "It's all ours!"

"And now we can actually start buying furniture for the nursery." John winked as he turned onto Laurel Street and pulled into the driveway of house number 328.

The olive green house needed a fresh coat of paint, but John and Vriska weren't going to worry about that until later. The car pulled into the driveway and the couple got out. John smiled as he tossed the house keys to his wife.

"C'mon," he told her. "Let's go in together."

John and Vriska walked up to the front door and both took ahold of the key. Smiling, they unlocked the door and practically sprinted inside.

"It's ours!" Vriska beamed ad threw her arms around John. "It's all ours!"

John laughed. "We can talk about it later. Right now, do you know when Karkat and Terezi are getting here?"

Vriska opened her mouth to reply, but heard a car door slam. "I guess that's them."

The Vantases walked through the open front door. "It smells…weird in here," Terezi commented.

"Your shit's in our car." Karkat, who didn't look very impressed, crossed his arms. "I'd appreciate it if we went ahead and got it out."

John sighed. "Well, my dad's running late, so it wouldn't help to just sit around."

The Vantases and Egberts went back outside and began unloading stuff from the car. Karkat and John grabbed boxes, while Terezi and Vriska each grabbed a garbage bag. The boxes had books or kitchen stuff in them, while the bags were filled with clothes or bed sheets or something of the sort.

"Woah, Vris." John stopped his wife before she could go too far. "Let me get that. You don't need to be carrying anything heavy."

"It's not heavy," Vriska insisted. She simply turned up her nose and continued to drag the bag inside.

"I'll tell you what." John set the box down inside. "My dad should be getting here soon with the IKEA stuff. When he gets here, we'll go ahead and start putting stuff together, okay? That way you won't hurt yourself."

"Whatever." Vriska rolled her eyes and went back outside. "I'm still going to bring in stuff until he gets here."

* * *

**-10 minutes later-**

"Alright, there's my dad."

Everyone stopped to look at the black BMW with a trailer attached that had just parked in the driveway. Mr. Egbert got out and John put down the box he was carrying.

"You did good, son." Mr. Egbert smiled and hugged John. "Only about half of the furniture was ready, but I made sure we got the couch and mattress frame."

"Thanks, Dad."

A few minutes later, the couch was in the living room and John and his dad were putting the bedframe together upstairs. Vriska was still chatting with Karkat and Terezi while the three unpacked boxes.

"So…do you have anything going on this weekend?" Terezi took a bunch of plates out of a box and set them on the counter in the kitchen.

"Well, that stupid counsellor I saw when I was in the hospital still wants to have sessions, so I see her on Monday." Vriska rolled her eyes. "I don't understand why, because I've gotten over the anorexia since then."

"Maybe this will be your last session." Terezi shrugged.

John and his dad came back downstairs. "The bed's up," John told Vriska. He gave her a subtle wink.

Vriska stood up. "Alright, so where do you want me to put the plates and stuff?"

"Just in a cabinet. Any cabinet."

Vriska opened up a cabinet next to the sink and began stacking the plates and bowls. Karkat and Terezi unpacked some cups and glasses, and put them in a cabinet next to the fridge.

"I'm surprised the previous owners left the fridge here," Mr. Egbert commented.

"It's a good thing they did!" John laughed a nervous laugh. "Dad, do we need to bring in the table now?"

"Sure, it's in the trailer, unless someone decided to steal it."

John's dad obviously thought his comment was hilarious, because he chuckled the entire way back to the trailer with John.

"Okay, well." Vriska closed the cabinet doors. "Does anyone want to come with me? I'm going to go get the paint John and I picked out the other day."

* * *

**-Monday, June 5, 4:43 pm/Maple Valley Regional Hospital-**

"Mrs…Egbert?" A nurse looked up from her clipboard. "Ms. Jones is ready for you."

Vriska stood up and collected her things from the chair next to where she was sitting. She hated being back in this stupid, dark, weird-smelling place, but at least maybe she and that Mary lady could talk about more positive things now. She hadn't talked to the lady since she was maybe 16 or 17 weeks along; now she was 25. There would be a  _lot_  of catching up to do.

Vriska followed the nurse to the same room her in-the-hospital sessions were in. Mary was already seated at the table, her clipboard ready and pen in hand. She smiled as Vriska sat down across from her.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Mary laughed a little. "So I hear you've been doing much better? What's happened since I saw you last?"

"Well…" Vriska looked up at the ceiling. "We found out the gender of the baby, I sucked it up and had my wedding dress altered, I got married, I went to Chicago, I made up with my father-in-law, and moved into a new house on Saturday!"

"Oh, wow."

Vriska just nodded in response.

"So I can tell you've been eating lately," Mary commented. She glanced at Vriska's protruding belly, which took up about a fourth of her lap when seated.

"Yeah, like I said I just decided to suck it up and get my dress altered." Vriska shrugged. "It hasn't bothered me as much as I thought it would."

"I see." Mary paused. "So it's obvious you've gotten over the anorexia, but what about your baby?"

"Oh, she's fine." Vriska smiled. "My husband and I have already started painting her nursery, and we've started to look at furniture."

"I think you mentioned earlier you've picked out a name, is that right?"

"Yes, we're naming her Cassia."

"Oh, that's pretty." Mary brushed some greying brown hair out of her face. "Did you choose that name for a particular reason, or…?"

"Well, it's…" Vriska thought for a moment. "Where I'm from, it's a 'custom' to have a six-letter first and last name. 'Cassia' had six letters, as well as 'Egbert'." She paused. "We're still stuck on a middle name, though. We've thought about naming her after his mom, or his Nanna, but there's some other names we like as well…"

"Oh, I see." After writing some stuff on her papers, Mary looked back up. "I can see you've changed a lot since we last talked, but we should still discuss some things…"


	22. Vriska's Chapter

It had been a week since John and Vriska moved into their new house. The rest of the furniture they had ordered had either come in or had been put together. Karkat and Terezi were almost forced to come over and help paint, since the smell made Vriska so sick she couldn't even walk around.

Other than that, though, everything had been fine.

**-Thursday, June 16, 7:20 am/John & Vriska's house/26 weeks-**

Vriska sat up and rubbed her eyes as John slapped his hand down on his alarm clock for the fourth time. "Five more minutes…" he mumbled, rolling back over.

His wife giggled a bit. "You're gonna be late," she yawned.

"Ngh…" John stuffed his head underneath his pillow.

"John, you have twenty minutes to take a shower and eat."

John instantly shot up out of bed and turned off his alarm. "Could you go ahead and make my coffee while I take a shower?"

"Sure." Vriska stretched as she stood up, and rubbed her stomach as she went downstairs.

Most of the room in their house were still empty, but it didn't really bother her. They weren't going to bother filling up empty spaces because (a) they couldn't afford anything, and (b) when Casey came, the house would be covered in baby stuff.

After making John's coffee, Vriska decided to eat as well. She sat down at the kitchen table with a pop tart covered in buttercream icing just as John ran downstairs.

"Your coffee's on the counter," she told him as she stood up.

"Thanks, babe." John picked up the travel mug and went back over to Vriska.

He bent down and kissed her stomach. "Bye, Casey," he said in a cutesy voice. "I'll see you soon, Peanut."

John stood back up and kissed Vriska. "I'll see you later. I love you."

"I love you too." Vriska smiled and waved as John left.

As soon as the white car disappeared from sight, Vriska threw herself onto the couch to watch a quick hour or two of TV before she started getting ready for work. Before turning on the TV, which was still on the floor, she went back into the kitchen to get her phone. "I think I'll update my blog," she mumbled to herself, making a new text post.

 _Almost 27 weeks!_ she wrote _. Wow, I'm feeling tired. My husband and I moved into our new house a couple of weeks ago, so we're trying to do as much as we can with it before the baby comes. But, the smell of paint makes me nauseated, and as of now we've only painted the nursery and about half of the kitchen._

_I also feel really fat because I eat all the time. I gave up on wearing my regular pants several weeks ago. I still have yet to find maternity shorts, because it's really hot outside and pants are becoming uncomfortable. Maybe I'll go this weekend. (If anyone knows where to find shorts, that'd be great!)_

_Casey moves a lot, too. John's disappointed he can't feel her yet, but I keep telling him it'll be a few weeks._

_But anyway, everything's fine. Things are a LOT better with my now-father-in-law, and he's coming over for dinner tomorrow night. I might be able to post this weekend, but it depends. I'll try._

_L8r._

* * *

**-10:38 am/Red Dragon Chinese Bistro-**

"Alright, everyone!" Mrs. Wilson-Lee clapped her hands. "Team meeting! Let's go!"

Vriska rolled her eyes as she walked—more like waddled—to the table everyone was gathering around. She hated team meetings, but maybe it would be short.

"Okay, everyone, we have a new team member." Mrs. Wilson-Lee gestured to a girl maybe about eighteen or nineteen. She had slightly curly brown hair and was blushing. "This is Abbey Finn, and this is, obviously, her first day on the job."

There was a rather monotone "hi" from everyone.

"Alright, Ana." Mrs. Wilson-Lee turned to Anastasia. "You'll be in charge of showing Abbey what to do."

"Okay." Ana nodded in response.

"And Vriska. Are you  _sure_  you don't want to reduce your hours, or switch shifts, or…?"

"I'm fine." Vriska sighed. "Maybe in a month or so, but right now, I'm fine."

"Alrighty then." Mrs. Wilson-Lee looked back up at everyone. "Okay, you all are dismissed. Remember we open in fifteen minutes."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

**-12:09 pm-**

"Vriska, table fourteen is open!" one of her coworkers called to her.

"I've got it." Vriska sighed as she refilled one of the pockets in her apron with straws. It had only been over an hour and she was already tired. Only two more hours.

She walked out of the kitchen and into the dining area, ready to plaster another fake smile across her face. "Hi, my name is Vriska, and I'll be your server today," she said in the enthusiastic tone she was forced to speak in. "Can I get you all started with some drinks?"

The rest of the work day was pretty normal. The more observant customers who noticed her baby bump were generous enough to tip more; one couple even left an $8 tip!

Since it was only 2:15 when she left, Vriska decided to eat at home, then get changed and maybe get a little shopping done. She got into the car Mr. Egbert had sold to her and John—he knew it only head a few years left, and besides, he had another one.

After a "healthy" lunch of potato chips and cheese, Vriska went upstairs and changed out of her waitressing clothes. John still hasn't called, which was strange. But he had just started the summer semester, and he wanted to get as much done as possible before the fall semester began and Casey was born.

Since it was eerily quiet in the house (as it had been lately), Vriska decided to just go straight to Babies-R-Us or some local baby store. She and John had barely bought any clothes for Casey, and Vriska still needed to get maternity clothes.

* * *

**-3:14 pm/Target-**

Vriska strolled up and down the aisle of baby stuff, trying to find something to come home with that wasn't clothes. She didn't exactly like the idea of a baby shower, and she didn't have many friends. What was the point of celebrating a baby she still didn't fully want? She still hadn't told John yet, but she was planning on buying everything for Casey.

After throwing a couple of onesies and a bib into her cart, Vriska went over to the maternity section to see if she could find some shorts. "These pants are hideous!" she exclaimed as she flipped through the rack.

"But…" Vriska paused. "They're a good price…I guess I'm making cutoffs."

Another woman, obviously at least ten years older than Vriska, happened to be in the maternity section. She also just so happened to overhear Vriska's comment, and for some reason decided to approach her.

"You know, there's a maternity shop downtown that sells cheap shorts," she told Vriska. "You don't have to make cutoffs if you don't want to."

"Oh really?" Vriska was actually curious. "What's it called?"

"Flowers and Bumblebees." The lady brushed some hair out of her face. "Yeah, I shopped there a lot when I was pregnant with my son. I was only twenty, and I needed clothes that were stylish yet affordable, y'know?"

"Oh, wow, I'm nineteen," Vriska replied. "I really needed that. Thanks. It's nice to finally meet someone who's gone through exactly what I'm going through."

The lady smiled. "Oh, no problem. I'm Jennifer, by the way."

"I'm…Vriska."

"Hi." Jennifer glanced around the store for a second before looking back at Vriska. "I know I probably won't see you again, so I'll give you one piece of advice: It  _will_  get better."

"Thanks." Vriska flashed Jennifer a final smile before the two vase each other farewell.


	23. John's Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on the same day as the previous chapter.

**-7:49 am/John's car-**

John literally snatched the paper sack from the poor employee at Einstein Bros. Bagels and quickly said thank you before he sped off. His first class began in ten minutes, and he couldn't afford to be late again. Although he had very good grades, his professor got ticked off easily and liked to call people out.

He pulled his car into a parking space and quickly grabbed his backpack. Rushing inside, he tossed the empty paper bag that formerly contained his breakfast into a trash can and dashed down the hallway. Finally John came upon the door to his first class' classroom and slowly turned the doorknob.

"Thank you for deciding to join us, Mr. Egbert," his professor said, an obviously irritated expression on his face. "Have a seat."

Some guys who had gone to school with John all his life snickered as he sheepishly walked to his seat. "Nice going, Eg _derp_ ," they laughed, high-fiving each other.

Thanks to Vriska's influence, John had learned to "fight back". "Only  _one_  person is allowed to call me that," he whispered through gritted teeth.

"Who? Your  _boyfriend_?" The guys were still laughing. You would think people would be more mature two years after high school, but no.

"For your information." John was feeling a bit hot-headed. "I am  _not_  a homosexual. I have a wife."

One of the guys stopped laughing. "Yeah, right."

"Gentlemen." John had no idea why the professor had just now decided to intervene. "Mr. Egbert, please take a seat. Mr. Edwards, Mr. Jordan, please pay attention."

John rolled his eyes and quietly made his way over to his seat. Thankfully, it looked like some boring PowerPoint was going on, but still. He couldn't  _wait_  to get out of there.

* * *

**-12:45 pm-**

Ah, yes. Lunch. The best time of the day. John could just sit at a table and use the school wifi or piggyback off of someone's hotspot while he ate McDonald's.

He had been doing just that when those same guys from his first class walked by. Weren't they usually with their slutty girlfriends at this hour?

"Hey Egderp!" Why were these guys even bothering to make an effort to speak to John? "Are you talking to your  _boyfriend_?"

John didn't even bother to comment this time; he just continued to stare at his laptop screen.

"So, is your boyfriend cute?"

"I'm not gay." John sucked the last bit of Coke up and tossed the empty paper cup in the trash can behind him. "Like I said earlier, I am married to a female."

"Well, she's gotta have bad taste then."

John didn't snap very easily, but since he had put up with these guys' crap since middle school he finally did. " _Actually_ , I have known my wife since we were thirteen."

"Show me a picture, then."

Since John was so frustrated, he dd as he was told and pulled up a photo album on his phone. "Scroll through these."

One of the guys took the phone from John and began scrolling through the album of wedding photos.

"Dude." The other guy started laughing. "Your wife is  _hot_."

"God, Dylan, you're such an idiot!"

John stole his phone back and locked it. "So, yeah. I'm not gay, so please go away. I have better things to do."

"Well shit, dude." Dylan laughed a laugh that showed he had probably been partying the night before. "We'll catch you tomorrow."

* * *

**-1:51 pm-**

John slammed his car door and walked up to the entrance to the lab. As he was planning on majoring in biochemistry, he had a pretty well-paying afternoon job at a lab where he helped organize records and papers and stuff. Just a little bit longer, and he would actually be handling specimen.

"Hey, John," one of the scientists, Mike Butler, said. John wouldn't ever tell anyone, but this man was the nicest out of everyone who worked there and his favorite by far. "How've you been today?"

"Okay." John sighed. "It's been kind of rough."

"Did you get called out for being late again?"

"Yeah…" John paused. "And people  _still_  think I'm gay for some reason. Not that being gay is a bad thing, it's just…not fun being labelled as something you're not."

John obviously wasn't gay, although he had a very strong long-distance friendship with Dave. He hadn't had a girlfriend throughout all of high school; in fact, Vriska was his first. He and Rose had almost started dating towards the end of middle school, but both of them decided it would be best to just stay friends. Besides, she and Kanaya went well together.

"That's not very nice." Mike coughed. "I'm sorry about that. I never had many friends when I was younger because I was so geeky, but, hey. It's all good now."

John chuckled. "That's good."

"Alright, well." Mike motioned for John to follow him into the back. "There's a lot of data and new reports that need to be inputted into the computer."

* * *

**-6:47 pm/John & Vriska's house-**

"How was your day today?" Vriska asked. She gave John a quick kiss before sitting down at the kitchen table with the turkey and onion sandwich she had just made.

"It kind of sucked. I  _was_  late." John sighed and sat across from Vriska. "Plus, these guys that've always gone to school with me still think I'm gay, or rather, thought I was until I showed them our wedding pictures."

"I'm sorry." Vriska rubbed her belly after taking a bite of her sandwich.

"On a more positive note, what did you do today?" John asked. He got up and went over to the fridge.

"Well, after work, I went to Target and bought Casey some clothes," Vriska told her husband. "Oh, and I found a little sign that said 'peanut'! I didn't buy it, but I took a picture of it."

John laughed when Vriska showed him the picture. "That's actually really cute. Anything else?"

"I also went to a maternity shop and bought some shorts. Other than that, I pretty much stayed home after work."

John smiled as he got a Dr. Pepper out of the fridge. "It's nice to know your day was better than mine."


	24. Father's Day/At the Lake

**-Sunday, June 19/11:09 am/John & Vriska's house/27 weeks-**

Vriska tapped John's shoulder. He smiled as he instantly turned around. "Yes?" he asked with a playful smile.

"I got you a little something." Vriska pulled a little box out from behind her back. "Here."

John pulled a blue tie out of the box and laughed. "Thank you, Vris."

"I thought it was a father-ish thing to give," Vriska smiled. "And you look  _very_  handsome in ties."

"I'm not so sure about that," John said with a little sarcastic eye roll.

Vriska smiled. "There's also something else I know you've been wanting for a while."

"And what's that?"

Vriska took John's free hand and placed it on her stomach. Casey reacted to the unfamiliar hand's touch with a strong kick. John's face instantly lit up.

"Did…she just kick?"

Vriska nodded. "I think she was waiting until today to show you."

John laughed. "Wow, that's really cool, Vris. Wow."

"Happy Father's Day, John."

* * *

**-9:13 pm/Karkat & Terezi's house-**

"Terezi, I can tell something's on your mind," Karkat said to his wife. He played with her hair, as she was laying her head on his lap. The two were watching a  _Law &_  _Order_  marathon.

Terezi sighed. "Vriska told me John felt their baby kick for the first time today. And…one of the guys at work tweeted that his girlfriend is pregnant. It's just all hitting at once."

Karkat sighed as Terezi sat up. "Look, Terezi, I know you've been feeling really badly about that lately. And…if you're ready, then I'm ready."

"But Karkat…!" Terezi was actually surprised. "Do we even have enough money?!"

"We'll make it work. I promise. You'll be a good mom."

"But..." Terezi paused before looking back up at Karkat. "Let's do this."

* * *

**-Saturday, June 25/12:19 pm/Pipe Lake/28 weeks-**

"Oh, yeah, Karkat, Terezi." John unlocked the door to the boathouse. "I forgot to tell you guys the other day. Happy anniversary."

"Thank you." Terezi sat down in a deck chair and opened her "assigned reading" book for English. She was over halfway through and was determined to finish it by Monday.

"John!" Vriska whined. "I'm so  _hot_!"

John chuckled. "Yes you are," he blurted by mistake (well, not really). He and Karkat pulled a couple more deck chairs and an inner tube out of the boathouse.

"Shut up!" Vriska chucked one of her flip-flops at John and stole the inner tube from him, also picking up a rope.

"Is she okay…?" Karkat whispered. He watched as Vriska tied the tube to a post on the small dock.

"She's just tired and irritated." John glanced at Vriska, who was now taking off her shirt and shorts, then back over at Karkat. "I mean, she's carrying a thing inside of her. I can't she why she  _wouldn't_  be tired."

"True, true." Karkat looked at Terezi, who had propped her feet up on another chair. "Terezi and I have…we've decided to try again."

A curious expression made its way onto John's face. "Really?" he asked. That was all he could manage to get out. He knew that if Vriska had never gotten pregnant, Karkat and Terezi wouldn't be trying.

"Nothing has happened yet, according to Terezi." The mutant-blood shrugged before he took off his shirt. "Alright, well, it's hot as fuck out here so I'm going for a swim."

"I guess I will as well. We can use the boat later."

John sighed and walked back out of the boathouse. He didn't know why he felt badly about the Vantases; it was their decision, after all.

"John!" Vriska waved her arms. "Come here!"

The brunette took of his shirt as he walked over to his wife. "Hmm?"

"Look!" Vriska laughed a little as she held up the inner tube. "My belly fits!"

"Haha, that's great." John couldn't help but laugh an unenthusiastic laugh as he walked over to the edge of the dock and jumped in.

"Wait for me!" Vriska glided out onto the water while laying on the tube.

It seemed after Karkat told John that he and Terezi were trying for another one, John became depressed. He had no idea why, because babies were a good thing! Maybe he felt like the Vantases felt they had to keep up with him and Vriska by having one of their own.

"Aren't Rose and Kanaya supposed to be coming?" Vriska just kind of rolled off the tube and into the water.

"Rose called and said they were picking up some food from the grocery," John replied, "so it should be any minute until they get here."

Vriska looked up. "Is that them?"

Sure enough, two female figures were approaching the group, each carrying something. Vriska swam to the ladder and got out of the lake to greet them.

"Kanaya!" The cerulean-blooded troll waved and ran to greet the couple. "Hi!"

"You seem rather cheerful today." Kanaya smiled before hugging her friend. "How are you?"

"Wow, I'm tired." Vriska sighed. "I'm going to go lay back down. John, wake me up if I fall asleep."

John shrugged as Vriska went back over to lay on the tube. "So what have you guys been up to?" he asked Rose and Kanaya.

"Oh, not much." Rose sat down next to Terezi. "Just the usual. I'm not taking any summer classes, so I'll get to spend the entire summer with Kanaya." She gave her girlfriend a subtle wink.

"Alright." John didn't want to be rude, but he _really_ didn't feel like talking much. "Well, uh…the burgers and hot dogs are the plates with the tin foil on them." He nodded towards the table on the dock. "Help yourselves. The ketchup and mustard are in the cooler, along with the drinks."

"Thank you." Kanaya set a grocery bag on the table and began taking out a couple bags of potato chips.

Vriska rolled over on the tube. "Is the food here?"

"Mm-hmm." John nodded and decided to help his pregnant wife out of the lake. "Rose and Kanaya brought chips and…it looks like cookies."

"Cookies?" Vriska instantly scrambled up onto the dock. "What kind?"

"Just sugar." Kanaya stepped out of the way so the pregnant lady could get her food. "I didn't know how much we needed, so I just picked up two boxes."

"More for me!" Vriska grabbed at least three cookies, plus a handful of chips and a hot dog.

"Help yourselves, I'm probably allergic." John grabbed a plate and began catering to himself.

Terezi still hadn't moved since she sat down. Although she had tried her hardest to not be jealous, she didn't like all the attention Vriska had been getting lately.

"Mm!" Vriska's sudden outburst caused Terezi to instantly look up from her book. "Kanaya, have you felt Casey kick before?"

"No, I haven't."

Vriska guided the jade-blood's hand to the spot where Casey was kicking. "Right…here!"

Kanaya was quite amazed at Casey's reaction to her hand's touch. "Rose!" she laughed. "Come feel this!"

Rose gave a sarcastic eye roll as she stood up and walked over to where the two were standing. "May I?" she asked, just to double-check.

"Of course."

Vriska looked over at Terezi. "Terezi, do you want to feel too?" she called.

Terezi sighed, refusing to look up from her book. "I really need to finish this," she lied. She was thankful she was wearing her glasses, otherwise everyone would see that she was crying again.

"Are you sure?"

Instead of responding, Terezi quickly gathered her things and stormed into the boathouse.

"Well then." Vriska, who was feeling a surge of positive hormones, followed Terezi into the boathouse. "Terezi? Are you alright?"

"You are the  _last_  person I want to talk to right now." The teal-blood sniffed and buried her face in her knees again.

Vriska followed the sound to see Terezi curled up into a ball on the floor of the Egberts' boat. Her book was thrown against a chair and was all crumpled up.

"Look, Terezi..." Vriska sighed before deciding to sit down next to Terezi. "This might sound weird coming from me, but I don't want you to feel like you have to catch up with me."

Terezi looked up at Vriska. "Why do you care?"

"Because I hate this, Tez." Vriska sighed, gesturing to her stomach. "It sucks."

"Don't call me Tez." Terezi turned up her nose and wiped her eyes again. "Why does it suck? You seem so happy about it all the time. It's all 'Casey' this, 'Casey' that."

"Terezi." Vriska grabbed the other troll's hand and pressed it against her stomach. "She does this ALL the time. I can't get to sleep if she's kicking, and she does it an awful lot. And she makes me sick, too. It's awful, Tez—sorry."

"Vris, you don't understand. We've been trying again. But…I checked this morning. Nothing."

"You're lucky. John and I can barely afford any of this…this shit. All because we decided to have sex. One time, Terezi.  _One time_."

"I…don't know what to say to that, actually."

Vriska laughed a little. "You have more luck than I do. Just wait. It'll be your time soon."

Someone knocked on the walls and the girls looked up. It was Karkat.

"Terezi, are you okay?" he asked. He walked over to the boat and stepped in. "What happened?"

"Just the usual." Terezi managed a small laugh and looked up. "You look cute when you're wet." She paused, blushing and turning her head away. "That came out wrong. I'm sorry."

"Nah, I know what you meant." Karkat leaned over and kissed his wife. "Cole's here, so if you're ready we can go talk to him."


	25. The Baby Shower

Terezi and Vriska had "made up" since then (if they had even really fought), you could say. Vriska had been getting serious about starting her leave from work, but was still trying to hang in there for the money.

* * *

 **-Saturday, July 9/3:18 pm/Red Dragon Chinese Bistro/30 weeks-**  

"Vriska, are you ready?" Terezi called. She took her handbag off a wall peg and checked her phone for messages. "It's almost 3:20."

"God, Terezi! Cut me some slack!" Vriska came back from the kitchen into the staff area, rubbing her lower back. "I can't move like I used to!"

"Sor- _ry_." Terezi rolled her eyes before opening the door. "Alright, I'll be in my car."

Vriska sighed and quickly gathered her things as to not make Terezi even more pissed off than she already was. She waddled into the parking lot and got into Terezi's car.

"Would you mind if I changed before we go over to your place?" Vriska asked as she refreshed her Twitter feed. "I hate this shirt."

"Just make it quick."

The two were silent the rest of the way to Vriska's house. Terezi pulled in the driveway and watched Vriska go inside. After impatiently waiting on her friend for almost five minutes, Terezi breathed a sigh of relief when Vriska came back outside.

"We're gonna be late!" Terezi exclaimed as soon as Vriska sat down.

"What do you mean, 'late'? Aren't we just going over to your house?"

Terezi realized what she had said and just backed out of the Egberts' driveway and into hers. The two got out of the car and walked up to the front door, Vriska lagging behind as she had been lately. Terezi whipped out her house key and unlocked the door.

"Finally!" Vriska whined as she stepped over the threshold. "I'm starving, I really want to lay down, and—"

"Surprise!"

"Holy  _shit_!" Vriska screeched, forgetting to watch her tongue. Pink balloons were floating around the room, and green streamers were draped across the ceiling. Most of, if not all, of her female coworkers, along with Rose and Kanaya, were standing in the Vantases' living room.

"What…what are you all doing here?!" Vriska exclaimed, her hands flying to her stomach. Casey obviously didn't like her mother's sudden heart rate change.

"It's a baby shower!" Ana sang. "Because, y'know. You're having a baby." She walked over to where Vriska and Terezi were standing and began pushing Vriska towards the couch. "Now, I'm sure you need to sit down, and then we can get this party started!"

"Ah…alright..." Vriska was unsure of what else to say, so she just sat down on the couch and waited for stuff to happen.

Terezi set down her handbag and sighed. "Alright, so, we have food in the kitchen," she told Vriska. "Do you want to eat now, or…?"

"Yes  _please_!" Vriska grunted and stood up. "What food is there?"

"Um, well—"

"There's sub sandwiches and chips, first off," Ana butted in, "and there's also brownies, cheese cubes, cookies—"

Vriska was tired of listening to Ana's food tangent, so she just ignored what else Ana had to say and went into the kitchen to grab some snacks. Everyone else took it as a cue to eat and followed her.

Lindsey, one of the co-workers at the party, didn't know how to speak to Vriska very well (she was actually kind of scared of her), but still wanted to be nice. "So…are you excited about the baby?"

"I guess, yeah." Vriska finished piling her plate and went into the living room to sit down. "It's very uncomfortable, though. Please don't remind me I still have two more months to go."

No one knew what to say, as no one except Terezi had ever been pregnant before, and even she didn't really experience the side effects.

"…Well then." Terezi sat down next to Vriska and started eating. "There's also cake, and I guess we can do gifts after that."

"Fine with me!" Vriska exclaimed. She finished a brownie and started on a petitfour.

"Have you picked out a name yet?" asked Skylar, another coworker.

"Just the first name," Vriska replied. "Cassia. Casey for short. We're not so sure about the middle name, either Margaret, after John's mom, or Jane, after his Nanna."

"Be careful about naming her after someone!" Ana called out. "I don't care that I was named after my Nona, I don't care that I'm part Russian, 'Anastasia' is way too long, way too fancy of a name and I hate it!"

"Well, 'Jane' and 'Margaret' aren't too fancy, and we're calling her Casey, remember?"

Ana shrugged and leaned back in her chair.

* * *

**-4:03 pm-**

"It's present time!" Ana sang as she started bringing the gifts over towards Vriska.

"Ana, calm down." Terezi sat back down next to Vriska and put a few things on the floor in front of the other troll. "So do you want to start opening now…?"

"Sure." The mother-to-be bent down and grabbed a small bag with multicolored tissue paper sticking out of the top. "This one's from…Erin."

The brunette smiled as Vriska took out a card and proceeded to read it. She smiled and took out the tissue paper. Inside the bag were a bottle of baby shampoo, a tube of diaper rash cream, and a rattle.

"Thank you." Vriska calmly set the bag aside and picked up another gift. "From…Grace!" This time it was a green and white polka-dotted changing pad and a pack of baby wipes. The card said, simply, "Congratulations" and had a stork on the front.

"Thank you," Vriska said over and over after she opened each gift. There was a package of diapers and baby powder from Skylar, bibs and a board book from Lindsey, and a six-pack set of bottles plus another board book from Ana. Not to mention the endless packages of diapers and bibs from most everyone else.

"One more!" Terezi called, handing a pink bag with red tissue paper to Vriska. "This one's from Rose and Kanaya."

The couple smiled as Vriska opened the bag and removed a brown and pink set of footie pajamas and two onesies. One was yellow and had a bunny on the front, and the other was pink with a cupcake on it.

After setting those aside, Vriska reached in and pulled out a pastel green knitted blanket. It was soft to the touch and she was sure Casey would love it.

"Rose…did you knit this?" she asked, staring at the blanket in awe.

Rose blushed. "Yes I did! I chose a pastel green just in case there were more in the future."

Vriska smiled and, partially due to a surge of hormones, decided to give the blonde a hug. "Thanks so much."

Suddenly a key turned and the front door opened. "Is that…?" Terezi asked, standing up. "Let me go check. He isn't supposed to be back for another hour."

Everyone watched as Terezi walked to the front door and began talking to Karkat. "What are you doing here?!" she whispered. "I thought you and John were going out to do stuff!"

"We finished early," he replied. "He should be coming." Karkat paused. "I'm going downstairs."

Before Terezi could say anything else, John walked in with a wrapped package. "Sorry if I'm interrupting or anything," he told everyone. He walked over to where Vriska was and leaned down to give her a kiss.

"Hey," she told him, smiling. "How is everything?"

"It's fun. Lots of things for Casey."

"That's good." John didn't really care that everyone was staring at him. "Here, I have something for you." He handed his wife the small package wrapped in brown shipping paper and she graciously took it.

As she pulled the string and the paper fell off, Vriska smiled. Underneath the brown paper lay a self-published, nearly professional-looking copy of Marquise Spinneret Mindfang's journal.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Vriska gave John another kiss and a hug.

"Heh, I thought you'd like it. I know how special her journal is to you, and …maybe Casey will like it too."

"Aww, John, I'm sure she'll love it."  She paused, and then cracked a smile.  "But when she's _much_ older, though."  Vriska set the book on top of the pile of stuff and gave her husband yet another kiss. "Thank you."


	26. Oops-a-Daisy

**-Friday, July 22/11:05 am/Red Dragon Chinese Bistro/32 weeks-**

"So, today's your last day of work, hm?" Ana pinned an order sheet on the clothesline and picked up another table's food. "I'm honestly surprised you've worked this long."

"Well, I would work longer, but this baby's gotten too big." Vriska sighed as she rested her hand on her overly large, overly round stomach. "I'm just ready to get it out. I have childbirth class tonight."

"Fun, fun," Ana said in a sarcastic tone. "I don't mean to scare you or anything, but I'm sure it's painful."

"So I've heard." Vriska sighed. "Alright, I see a table open. I'm gonna go take it."

* * *

**-2:59 pm-**

Vriska forced a smile as almost all of her coworkers hugged her. It wasn't like she was ungrateful for all the hugs she was given, or the fact that her coworkers cared about her, she just didn't like so much attention at once.

"Good luck!" seemed to be everyone's favorite phrase. They didn't have much time to say goodbye due to waiting on tables, so they had to make it quick.

"Thank you everyone!" Vriska smiled as she took her purse off a wall peg for the last time in a while. It was more of a fake smile, as she didn't care for about half of her coworkers. But she still wanted to be nice.

"Vriska, Vriska." Her boss smiled and gave her a hug. "God bless your soul for working this long. I wish you the best."

"Thank…you." The cerulean-blood was almost deprived of oxygen until she let go of the hug. "I don't know what I'm going to do for the next couple of months."

"It will be lonely around here." Mrs. Wilson-Lee looked around and sighed. "I know things will be hard at first, but it  _will_  get better. Trust me on that one."

Vriska laughed a little. "Thanks."

"Alright." The manager/owner/Vriska's boss gave her one final hug. "Congratulations in advance."

"Thank you." Vriska was kind of tired of saying thanks repetitively. "Alright, well…I guess I'm off."

* * *

**-5:54 pm/Maple Valley Regional Hospital-**

"John, we have six minutes!" Vriska complained as her husband practically dragged her down the hallway. " _And_ , you don't need to be dragging me around like this! It would  _not_  be good if I went into labor during childbirth class!"

"I know, but what if they start early?! What if there's a meet-and-greet beforehand?!"

John finally found the room the class was supposed to be in and practically slammed the door open. The four couples who were already in the room instantly stared at the young couple standing in the doorway.

"Alright, three more couples left!" a blonde, non-pregnant lady exclaimed. She stood up and held out the hand that wasn't carrying a clipboard. "I'm Patricia, the instructor. And you are…?"

"I'm Vriska, and this is John." Vriska gestured to her husband.

"Alright, we have the…Egberts here." Patricia checked off their names on the roster. "Okay, well you two can just have a seat, and we'll get started when the other couples get here or when six o'clock rolls around, whichever's first."

John and Vriska took the time to talk to the other couples already there before class started. The Emersons, Bryan and Kim, were expecting twin boys. Kim mentioned she was 31, and was the oldest mother at the class so far. Chandler and Savanna Garner were expecting a girl, and Savanna was only 24 weeks along. The third couple, Elliot and Macie Campbell, were expecting a boy, who was due exactly two weeks after Casey. And the final couple who were already there, Alex and Brynn Walsh, were also having a boy. John and Vriska were the youngest couple signed up for the class.

"Well, it still looks like we're missing the Pierces…" Patricia sighed as she looked at the clock. "I hate to begin without them, but it's 6:03—"

"Sorry we're late!" The door slammed open and in walked a lady (who looked familiar to Vriska) and a man who was obviously her husband. "I had an ultrasound appointment!"

"So it looks like Mitch and Jennifer are here!" The instructor checked off the final couple's names. "Alright, now that everyone is here, I guess we'll get started!

"Just in case you forgot, I'm Patricia. I've been a childbirth instructor for over five years, and, just in case you're wondering, I have two kids of my own."

Everyone nodded, not really knowing what to say.

"Alright, so does anyone have any questions?" The room was silent. "Alrighty then. I guess we'll get started."

* * *

**-8:38 pm-**

Since the class was over, everyone took the time to socialize. Vriska had talked some more to Jennifer, and she turned out to be the same Jennifer she had met at Target. John and Mitch hit it off instantly as well; Mitch had majored in biological sciences and had lots of advice to offer.

"You're…Vriska, right?" a lady asked. This lady was Allison Gray, and was accompanied by her husband Jeff. They were the second-to-last couple to show up.

"Um, yeah." Vriska shrugged, glancing at John. "Why?"

"How old are you again?" Allison asked. She herself was 37 going on 38—definitely the oldest mother at the class and Vriska had no idea why the woman was even there, as she had mentioned this was her fourth.

"Nineteen. Why?"

Jeff shook his head. "Throwing her life away," he whispered to his wife a little too loudly.

"Excuse me?!" Vriska crossed her arms. "I am _not_  throwing my life away!"

Allison looked angry that Vriska had heard Jeff. "Jeff, dear, why don't we keep our thoughts to ourselves."

"It's not like it's going to make a difference." Vriska sniffed; it was obvious that the hormones were kicking in, but she was offended as well. "You already said it. I already heard it."

Allison, being the totally conservative, ideal mother, "little-miss-perfect" she'd always been, had no idea how to respond to that since it had never happened to her before. "Vriska, sweetie, I'm sure he didn't mean—"

Tears were practically pouring out of Vriska's eyes, but she wasn't going to do anything about it due to hormones and being upset. "Do you know how many fucking times I've heard people tell me that?!" she screamed. "Hell, my own father-in-law wanted me to put her up for adoption until we told him we were set on keeping her! If it weren't for the fucking ignorant, narrow-minded people like you, my life would be so much easier right now!"

Vriska sobbed into her hands as everyone stared at her. Allison and Jeff were speechless and mortified at being told off like that.

Since Jennifer had gone through almost the exact same thing ten years earlier, she brought Vriska aside and the two sat down in some chairs. "Breathe, honey, breathe," she coaxed, caressing the younger's arms. Vriska only nodded and continued to wipe her eyes.

By then the room had been cleared of everyone other than John, Vriska, and Jennifer. The Grays had reluctantly apologized to John while Vriska was still having her meltdown and Jennifer was comforting her. It was a rather awkward scene, as John was just kind of standing there. He didn't dare look at his phone, as Vriska would probably snap at him for not helping her.

Finally, after about five awkward minutes, Vriska had enough strength to go back home. Jennifer had given her her number so they could talk more.

The Egberts walked back to their car in silence. Vriska was still upset to a degree and was cradling her stomach, while John was blankly staring ahead to see where he was going.

"John?" Vriska squeaked. The two were finally in the car.

"Hm?"

"I…I'm starting to think those people were right." Vriska stared at her belly. "Maybe we  _are_  throwing our lives away."

"Vris, don't say that." John sighed. "Just because they're older than us doesn't mean they're necessarily right. Sure, we could have waited a few more years, but that doesn't mean—"

"How could you say that?!" Vriska exclaimed. "John, do you not want this baby?!"

"Vriska, I didn't—"

"I guess if you don't want this baby, then I don't want this baby. Maybe we should put her up for adoption then."

"Vriska." John grabbed his wife's shoulders. " _Stop_  jumping to conclusions. It doesn't help."

"Who says I'm jumping to conclusions?!"

"And there you go with the overreacting again!" He took his hands off of Vriska's shoulders and gripped the steering wheel. "I can't handle it, Vris! I'm not sure if it's the hormones or not, but you need to stop! Sometimes you make me feel like crap when there's no reason for you to!"

Vriska gasped, tears forming in her eyes yet again. "I can't believe you, John. I can't believe you just said that."

"This is exactly what I mean, Vriska! I'm sorry, but it's the truth!"

"Well, if you think I overreact all the time, why did you even marry me?!"

John was silent. She did  _not_  just go there.

"We're going home," he told her.

The 30-minute car ride was in complete silence. Vriska stared out the window, watching the rain the had just begun falling. John kept his eyes fixed on the road, the entire conversation replaying in his head over and over again.

_"Why did you even marry me?!"_

"Why  _did_  I even marry her?" he thought. He never thought he would be questioning their relationship after only being married for three months. He  _loved_  Vriska. Why were they fighting?

The only sounds as the couple got out of the car were the slams of the car doors and the pitter-patter of the rain. Vriska refused to look at John, and John didn't dare sneak a glance at Vriska.  _Please,_ please _let everything be okay,_  he silently prayed.

"I'm going to bed." Vriska threw her purse on the counter and marched up the stairs, leaving John just standing in the kitchen. He was terrified of what was going to happen. He was honestly too scared to even sleep next to his wife that night. He was ready to apologize, but Vriska wasn't ready to hear it.

After some quick thinking, John pulled out his phone.

"Dad?"

"John, what's wrong? You seem sad."

"I'm coming home."


	27. Apologies Accepted

**-9:42 pm/Mr. Egbert's house-**

"John…" Mr. Egbert sighed as he sat down at the table, across from his son. "Please. Tell me what happened. I can't help you if you won't tell me."

John looked up at his dad, wiping his eyes. "You never had to go through it, though."

"Please."

"Well…" John sighed, folding his arms on the table. "These people at the class said something that kind of set Vriska off, and…let's just say my response didn't help at all, and I set her off even more."

"What did the people say?"

"Just…that we're throwing our lives away." Mr. Egbert was about to say something, but John cut him off. "But there's more. So after she started going on about crap, I told her she overreacts too much, blah blah blah, and now she won't talk to me."

Mr. Egbert chuckled a little. "I understand on the overreacting part. Your mother was an entirely different person when she was pregnant with you."

John sighed, rubbing his forhead. "It's just…I want to apologize, but…she won't even look at me."

"Listen, John…" Mr. Egbert sighed. "I think you need to wait it out a bit. Don't call her or text her to apologize. Don't say anything that might start her up again. Direct confrontation would be the best way to show you really  _are_  sorry."

"But…what if she doesn't accept the apology? She very well knows she can't raise Casey on her…own…"

"I'm starting to think  _you're_  the one who's overreacting." John's dad smiled a bit. "Everything will be fine. You'll get through this."

* * *

**-11:55 pm/John and Vriska's house-**

Vriska sighed as she nervously paced back and forth. Her eyes darted from her phone to the front door, back and forth. "Should I call him?" she kept asking herself. But there was always an excuse.

_He doesn't want to talk to me._

_He's asleep._

_He's at a bar getting wasted—wait, he's John. And he can't legally drink._

She finally just gave up and plopped down on the couch. "I'm sorry, Casey," Vriska sighed, laying her hands on her stomach. "I'm sorry you got stuck with me as your mother."

Casey obviously disagreed, because she rammed her foot against the spot where Vriska's hand was. "Woah there," Vriska laughed, rubbing her stomach. "Calm down."

She sighed again, sitting up a little. "I…I wish your daddy were here to feel you kick." Vriska paused. "But…Daddy and I aren't getting along right now. We still love each other, but sometimes we disagree. Cassia, I hope you don't fight with the person you fall in love with."

* * *

**-4:35 am/Mr. Egbert's house-**

_Dad,_  he wrote, _I've decided to go back home to apologize. Just wanted you to know I'm okay._

John quickly signed the note and taped it to the fridge. Yes, he was going to apologize to Vriska at five in the morning. But he couldn't sleep longer than an hour without waking up. The only way to remedy that was to apologize.

Fifteen minutes later, John's car pulled into the driveway. He turned off the engine and sighed. Was he  _really_  ready to apologize? If so, would Vriska accept it? She could be pretty stubborn at times…

John finally got it together and made his way over to the front door. Great, he was actually doing this. He unlocked the door and opened it, turning on the light—

"Who the fuck are you, and why are you in my house?!"

John dropped his keys in surprise.

Vriska sighed with relief, lowering the arm that was wielding what looked like either a hammer or a knife (John was too tired to tell). "Oh, John!" she exclaimed, dropping whatever she was holding and throwing her arms around her husband. "Thank God it's you! Where were you?! You had me worried!"

"I was at my dad's house…" John closed the door with the hand that wasn't wrapped around Vriska. "I…I couldn't sleep, so I…I came back to say I'm sorry for…for flipping out on you like that."

"And…I'm sorry too." Vriska slowly let go of the hug. "I know I've been overreacting over stupid things a lot lately, and I'm sorry if I made you angry." A sincere tear rolled down the troll's cheek.

"Why are you up?" John asked, bending down to pick up his keys. "Did you hear me pulling in?"

"No, I…I couldn't sleep as well." Vriska laughed a little. "Casey couldn't, either."

"Well, it's good to know my girls are okay." John smiled, placing his hand on Vriska's stomach.

Vriska smiled. "We should probably get some sleep. I'm sure you're just as tired as I am."

John smirked. "Who said anything about sleep?"

Vriska raised an eyebrow, a tiny smirk appearing on her face. "Are you suggesting we…?"

"Only if you're up for it."

"Well, we haven't done it since…" Vriska paused. "Come on!"

* * *

After apologizing, everything went along as normal. The couple had their second and final childbirth class session that next Friday. The Grays avoided the Egberts for the most part, and Vriska pretended like nothing had ever happened. As a result, she and John got to know some of the other couples better.

* * *

**-Saturday, August 6, 12:50 pm/John & Vriska's house/34 weeks-**

Vriska sighed as she waited for a reply from Terezi. Sure, John had told her he could make some extra money, but still. Why did he have to be gone for most of the day? That meant Mr. Egbert had to come with her to pick up Casey's crib and stuff. In order to keep her sanity intact, Vriska had decided to ask Terezi to come along. Maybe she could make the trip a little more fun.

 _Beep-beep-beep!_ Vriska picked up her phone and read what Terezi had just sent.

 _Why?_  was all she said.

 _8ecause_ , Vriska texted back,  _I'm stuck going with John's dad. Pleeeeeeeease?_

Another beep. _Fine im coming_

Terezi had given up on the leetspeak because (a) it was too hard to use on her basic slidey phone, and (b) her college work obviously didn't allow it. Typing like a regular person wasn't inconvenient, although it was kind of weird.

The doorbell rang and Vriska groaned as she got up to answer it. "Thank you!" she sighed, a hint of a smile appearing on her face.

"Holy shit." Although she couldn't see, Terezi's eyes still widened.  **(A/N When I wrote I'd Only Choose You, Terezi hadn't been unblinded by Aranea yet, and besides, I like blind Terezi better.)** "You look huge."

"Shut up." Vriska rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault Casey takes a lot of food to keep full."

"Whatever." Terezi crossed her arms, following Vriska into the kitchen. "So when is John's dad getting here?"

"Should be about one." Vriska sighed as she slumped down into a chair at the table and put her hands on her stomach. "So has anything happened yet?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked." The teal-blood shrugged and sat down across from Vriska. "I don't feel any different, either."

"Sounds like you two would be having a fuck fest," Vriska scoffed, looking out the window. A black BMW was pulling into the driveway. "Oh, I think he's here, by the way."

"Does he know I'm coming?"

"No." Vriska stood up, preparing to greet her father-in-law.

Mr. Egbert knocked on the door and Vriska answered it. "Hi," she sighed, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

"Hi, Vriska," Mr. Egbert replied, stepping inside. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Vriska was used to seeing John's dad in his work attire, but since it was a Saturday, he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. It kind of bothered her. "So…are you ready to go, or do you want something to eat, or…?"

"I think I'm fine for now. I'd just like something to drink."

"What do you want? We have lemonade, cranberry juice, water—"

"Just some water would be fine."

"Alright." Vriska waddled into the kitchen, Mr. Egbert following her.

"Oh, hi, Terezi." John's dad gave an acknowledging smile to the other troll.

"Hello." Terezi rummaged through her shoulder bag, looking for her phone.

A few minutes later, the three were sitting in Mr. Egbert's car, Vriska in the passenger's seat and Terezi in the back. First they were going to Target to pick up the crib, then to Babies R Us to get the bassinet and carseat. Vriska was waiting for Mr. Egbert to ask why they had waited so long to get the stuff, but surprisingly, he never did.

Mr. Egbert pulled into a parking space at Target and the three got out of the car. "So, Terezi," he said to the troll, "are you and Karkat ever going to have kids?"

"Eventually," Terezi sighed. "So far it hasn't worked out, but we know we should wait  _just_  a little longer."

"I see." Mr. Egbert gestured with his hand and the three walked over to the guest services desk.

Two women were already in line, so they had to wait a minute or two before actually being serviced. "How may I help you?" a woman at the desk asked. She looked up at Vriska, ready to hear whatever the troll had to say.

"I'm here to pick up a crib." Vriska leaned on the counter, looking at the pile of returns behind the desk.

"Name please?"

"Vriska Egbert."

"Alright, Ms. Egbert…" The woman looked at the computer screen as she searched up the name. "Here we are. Can I see an ID?"

Vriska dug around in her purse and grabbed her driver's license. She held it up for the lady, who nodded.

"There's a guest here for order pickup, last name Egbert," the lady said into a phone, and within five minutes a man pushing a cart with a large box in it was at the desk.

"Would you like me to take it out to your car for you?" the man asked.

The three just kind of stared at him. "Um…sure."

* * *

**-2:41 pm/John & Vriska's house-**

"That was easy," Terezi said after the three finally arrived at John and Vriska's house. She and Mr. Egbert set the box containing the bassinet on the floor and wiped her brow. "Alright, well…my shift starts at four. Sorry if you needed me to help or anything, but I need to eat a snack and get ready."

"Oh, no, it's fine. I'll have plenty of help." Vriska watched as Terezi quickly grabbed her bag and ran across the street.

"Well, I guess we should go upstairs and start putting everything together," she said to her father-in-law. "Maybe we can surprise John by having everything ready."

"That sounds great." Mr. Egbert smiled, but his smile quickly faded. "But, first, Vriska, I think I should tell you something."

"Yes?"

"I'm…I'm sorry for doubting you," he confessed. "It took me a while to finally believe everything John has told me about what you had to go through before coming here. I'm sorry for calling you immature and childish, and saying you wouldn't be a good mother." He put his hands on Vriska's shoulders and smiled. "Vriska, I think you're a very independent young lady, and you've handled everything very well. I'm proud of you."

"But…I'm not related to you…" Vriska gasped as she was squeezed in a hug. "You should…be proud of John…"

"Vriska, Vriska." Mr. Egbert chuckled as he let go of the hug. "You're giving me a granddaughter who I'm sure is going to be beautiful. I've never seen John happier. Thank you for being such a wonderful wife to my son." He gave his daughter-in-law a warm smile before hugging her again. "Thank you."

Vriska smiled as the hug slowly faded away. There were an awkward few moments of silence before John's dad decided to speak up.

"Now, let's see if we can put a crib together!"


	28. Maggie

**-Friday, August 19, 5:28 pm/Mr. Egbert's house/36 weeks-**

"So, what is your dad making for dinner?" Vriska asked as John helped her up the steps to the front porch. She was now 36 weeks along, just about considered full-term. Heck, Casey could come at any time, even though she wasn't due for another month.

"I think meatloaf? Wait, no…steak? Maybe hamburgers?" He knocked on the door with a shrug. "I honestly don't care, though. They're all similar."

Mr. Egbert opened the door with a smile. "Come on in," he said to his son and daughter-in-law. "The hamburgers are on the table, and I have a lemon cake in the oven."

The young couple stepped inside and immediately sat down at the table. "I'm starving," Vriska commented as she slathered mayonnaise onto a hamburger bun.

"Oh, don't worry, there's plenty." Mr. Egbert checked on the cake before joining his family at the table. "So what have you two been up to?"

"Baby-proofing everything," John laughed. "It's scary."

"I'll bet it is." Mr. Egbert smiled. "Isn't she due in a month?"

"September 18th," Vriska nodded. She smiled. "I can't wait to get her out."

John laughed nervously. "…Yeah. Just a few more weeks, Vris."

* * *

After twenty minutes or so of casual chatting and eating, the over timer dinged and Mr. Egbert got up to take the cake out of the oven. "Alright, this needs to cool for a few minutes…" he mumbled to himself, setting the pan in the fridge to maybe speed up the cooling.

"What type of frosting are you putting on it?" Vriska asked as she stuffed her mouth full of potato chips.

"Lemon or Vanilla. You pick." John's dad opened the pantry and took out two of the many cans of icing.

"Um…lemon!"

A few minutes later, John's dad was frosting the cake with the lemon frosting Vriska preferred. Vriska was leaning on the table, eagerly awaiting a slice, and John was checking his email.

"Alright…" Mr. Egbert set a slice of lemony lemon cake in front of Vriska. "Here you go."

"Thank you!" The troll smiled as her father-in-law walked back over to the counter.

"John, would you like a slice?" Mr. Egbert asked, picking up the knife to take a slice.

John sighed. "No, I think I'll pass."

"Why do you  _always_  pass up a slice of cake?" Mr. Egbert asked. "I just generally want to know why.

John was silent. He was thinking.

"Why?"

"It's… because…it reminds me of Mom. I just…always remember baking cakes with her. I…I miss her."

Mr. Egbert sighed and lowered his head, leaning his hands on the counter. The room was silent.

"…Dad?"

"Dammit, John!" Mr. Egbert threw the knife down on the counter in rage. "You're not the only one! I miss her too!"

John was staring at his dad. Vriska froze with her lips around the fork, as she was in the middle of taking a bite.

"You don't understand, John! It was more than her just…just getting cancer and dying! There was so much I never told you because you were so young!"

* * *

_33-year-old Maggie Egbert ran out of the bathroom with a huge smile on her face, searching for her husband. Five-year-old John toddled out of his bedroom, his new glasses just a bit too large for his small face._

_"Mommy!" he exclaimed with a toothy grin. "Can you play cars with me?"_

_"Not right now, sweetie," Maggie said in a sweet, almost-singsong voice. "I have to start making dinner with Daddy. Maybe after dinner?"_

_"Okay."_

_Maggie continued down the hallway and went down the stairs to the kitchen. "Joseph?"_

_"Hm?" A younger, 34-year-old Mr. Egbert looked up from the soup he was making. "What is it?"_

_She could hardly contain her excitement, as a huge smile appeared on her face and she began jumping up and down. "Joseph, I'm pregnant!"_

_Abandoning the soup, Mr. Egbert threw his arms around his wife. "That's wonderful!"_

_The two embraced each other in a silent hug for about a minute before letting go. "When should we tell John?" Maggie asked._

_"Maybe we should wait until he figures it out…" Mr. Egbert sighed. "He's still so young… I hate for him to already be asking questions before he needs to know."_

_Maggie laughed a little. "I'm sure we'll come up with something by then."_

* * *

"Mom was… _pregnant_?!" John was shocked.

Mr. Egbert nodded sadly. "It was good news for about a month, but…"

* * *

_"Well, Mrs. Egbert…" The doctor sighed before looking up from his clipboard. "You may want to sit down for this."_

_"What is it?" Maggie hopped back up on the exam table. "Is something wrong?"_

_She and her husband stared at the doctor, who sighed again._

_"Mrs. Egbert, you have breast cancer."_

_"But…I don't…I don't understand…" The room was silent as Maggie began to sob._

_Mr. Egbert embraced his wife in a hug as she sobbed into his shoulder_.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait…" John was staring at the table in disbelief. "Mom found out she had cancer… _while_  she was pregnant?!"

"Mm-hm." Mr. Egbert sighed. "The cancer…it got worse. Of course, she would never terminate the pregnancy, so she was having to go through chemotherapy with the baby."

"But…why didn't she get better if she went through chemo? I thought that since it was breast cancer…" John paused. "How bad was it?"

"It was bad," Mr. Egbert told him. "The doctors were afraid it would spread to the baby, so they had to perform an emergency C-section. The baby had only been in utero for a little over five months.

"He was so tiny, John. He could fit in my hand. We named him Matthew, after your great-grandfather." Mr. Egbert sighed again, years beginning to form in his eyes. "But…he was so underdeveloped…he couldn't breathe on his own at all during his short little life. Your brother, he…he was two days old when he died. And your mother died three days later."

Vriska, who had been silent this entire time, slowly set down her fork and pushed her plate away. "I'm…not hungry anymore," she announced, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her belly.

"Why'd you tell me that?" John quietly asked. "Now I feel awful."

Mr. Egbert wiped his eyes. "John, I didn't want to make you feel badly, I just…" He sighed. "…I miss her, too. I'm sorry you had to grow up without a mother."

John stood up to hug his dad as Vriska awkwardly watched. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"…Should I get it?" Vriska whispered.

"Oh, no, I've got it." Mr. Egbert let go of the hug and walked over to the door.

"Hello!"

"Holy—!" John shot up out of his chair and ran to his father's side.

Vriska sat up in her chair, eager to see what was happening. Who were the two people at the front door? And why did John seem so excited to see them?

The Egberts and the unfamiliar couple came into the kitchen. They were an older couple, maybe in their mid- to late-sixties. The man was talk with a head of thick, grey hair, and could have probably laid off a few beers. The woman was very skinny and considerably shorter, and her short, light brown hair was obviously dyed.

The woman's face lit up when she laid her eyes on Vriska. "Oh, John!" she exclaimed. "Did you finally get yourself a girlfriend?"

John smiled, laughing a little. "No, but I got myself a wife."

He walked over to the table, next to Vriska. "Vriska, this is my grandma. Grandma, this is Vriska."

John's grandma smiled and stuck out her hand. "It's very nice to meet you, dear. You can just call me Peggy."

Vriska stood up to shake the lady's hand. "Hi."

John's grandma  **(A/N You know what I'm just going to call her Peggy)**  shook Vriska's hand with a smile, but her eyes widened when they drifted down to her stomach. "Oh," she said in an obviously uncomfortable tone, forcing a laugh. "You look like you could have that baby any minute!"

"Four more weeks," Vriska sighed. She leaned her head on her husband's shoulder.

"So, are we expecting a great-grandson or a great-granddaughter?" John's grandpa asked. He had a hint of a smile on his face, which was a good thing.

"Bob!" Peggy almost elbowed her husband. "I want it to be a surprise!"

"Are you sure? It might make it easier to—"

" _No_!" Peggy insisted. "I miss the days when all babies were surprises…"

"Those days existed?!" Vriska blurted by mistake.

"Vriska…" John sighed before looking up at his maternal grandparents. "Grandma, Grandpa," he said, "you'll probably think I'm crazy."

"Why would we think you're crazy?" Bob asked. "You've always been a straight-A student!"

"Well, the thing is…" John sort of fumbled with his words. "Vriska's an…an…"

"I'm from another planet," Vriska finished for him.

"Well, it's nice to finally meet someone who shares as much of an interest in science fiction as John," Bob said with a nervous smile.

"She's…serious." John sighed before blurting out the entire story, Vriska adding details every so often. By the end of her life story, Vriska was in tears, John was overwhelmed, and Bob and Peggy were just plain confused.

"So let me get this straight…" Peggy sighed as she looked back up at Vriska. "You…you lived in a society where you had to… _kill_  people?"

"If I didn't want to be killed first." Vriska continued to stare at the floor with her hands wrapped protectively around her stomach. "I…did a lot of awful things I'm not proud of. That's…that's probably why I don't have many friends." She forced herself to laugh a little in attempt to lighten the atmosphere a bit.

The room was silent for what seemed like forever as John's grandparents took everything in. Eventually everyone decided to relocate to the living room so Vriska could sit down in a more comfortable chair. The family soon became more comfortable with everything that had just happened and decided to resume normal conversation.

"So…" Peggy coughed before finishing her sentence. "How did you two meet, exactly…?"

"Well, um…there was this game," John told her. "I played it, and Vris played it—"

"And we talked with each other over this chat thing," Vriska chimed in.

"I can understand that," Bob said, "but Vicky—"

"Vriska."

"—how did you get here?"

"Well, um…" Vriska thought for a moment. "We have these…friends. And for some reason I forget, they decided to run away and ended up here… Then eventually they got engaged, and she wanted me to be the maid of honor in her wedding…"

"I…I guess that makes sense." Peggy shrugged. "But as long as you two are happy, that's good."


	29. Heeeeeeeey Tavroooooooos!!!!!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of this chapter was based off a roleplay...

**-Friday, September 2, 7:05 am/John & Vriska's house/38 weeks-**

John turned off his alarm clock and put on his glasses, running his fingers through his hair. He turned to look at Vriska, who was just now waking up. He knew that she would probably go back to sleep once he left.

"Hey," he said with a smile, "I'm going to be leaving in about thirty minutes."

"Okay…" Vriska yawned. She stretched a little and pulled the sheets back up to her chin.

"Just remember, if anything happens, call me." John sat down on the bed. "All my professors and my boss know, so  _please_  don't wait until I come home to tell me you've gone into labor."

Vriska laughed a little. "I wouldn't do that."

"Good." John gave his wife a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Have a good day." He smiled as he stood back up and walked into te bathroom.

* * *

**-10:41 am-**

Vriska groaned as she attempted to sit up in bed. "Did I seriously sleep for twelve hours?" she thought. Whatever, she needed it.

She rolled out of bed and cracked her back. "Ugh," she groaned as she walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

It was really boring around the house. There wasn't much to do, since John was gone. For the past week Vriska had done nothing but eat, watch TV, and check her Tumblr. When she had enough energy to walk upstairs, she sat in Casey's nursery and folded her tiny clothes over and over again.

She needed something to do.

Vriska went into the living room and grabbed her laptop off the couch. Maybe she could post her 38-week blog entry. No…she could do that any day that next week. What about online shopping? Wait…they didn't have extra spending money.

Eventually the cursor moved to a familiar icon on the desktop. She hadn't clicked on it in what seemed like forever. Before it could register in her mind, Vriska had opened up the program…Trollian.

And who was the only person online?

Tavros.

How long had it been since she had talked to him last? An earth year? Maybe more? It wasn't like she hated him anymore, even though they were kismeses when they were younger. Now his shyness and low self-esteem just got under her skin and made her want to claw his eyes out.

Since she had nothing better to do, Vriska just decided to talk to him.

-arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling adiosToreador at 10:52-

AG: Heeeeeeeey Tavroooooooos!

AT: vRISKA,,,

AT: uHH,,,

AT: lONG TIME, uH, nO SEE

AT: wHAT ARE YOU DOING,,,

AG: I'm reeeeeeeeally tired.

AT: aRE YOU, uH, oKAY,,,

AG: This may sound weird, 8ut…do you want to come over for a 8it?

AT: oN, uH, eARTH,,,

AT: uHH,,,

AG: Come on.

AG: It'll 8e fine.

AG: Just for a few hours.

AT: fINE,,,

-adiosToreador has disconnected-

Vriska sighed before setting her laptop to the side. Was is really the right thing to do, inviting her kismesis over? She couldn't take it back, and besides, she  _really_  needed something to do.

The pounding of footsteps was heard from the basement and Vriska remembered something: How was she going to explain Casey? She was  _way_  too big to hide it. But how would Tavros react? He still had some flushed feelings for her, and besides, reproduction was looked down upon in troll society…

"Uhh…Vriska?"

Vriska whipped her head around to see Tavros standing in the kitchen. "When'd you get here?!" she exclaimed.

"I, uh…just got h-here." Tavros blushed and looked up from the floor, his eyes widening. "Why are you so…big?"

Vriska cocked her head.

"Erm, I, uh–I mean, y-you look g-great!" His face turned a deep shade of orange-brown and he looked back down at the floor.

"You don't have to lie to me." Vriska rolled her eyes before joining Tavros in the kitchen. "It's kind of complicated, though. I don't really like talking about it, but if you want to know…"

"Oh, uh-uh it's okay!" Tavros said, feeling the need to back away. "Y-you don't have to!"

"Really, it would just be easier to explain." Vriska sighed and leaned on the counter. "So you know how the John human and I are matesprits?"

"Uh, y-yeah…"

"Well, we kind of…" Vriska paused, thinking of the right words to use. "…'did it'."

"You…" Tavros lowered his voice to a very faint whisper. "…p-pailed?"

"Yeah." Vriska sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

"Well, um…was it, uh…fun?" Tavros couldn't think of anything else to say.

"You could say that." Vriska shrugged and sat down at the kitchen table. "Until what happened afterwards."

"What…happened?" Tavros was starting to get very uncomfortable. "Did you, uh…not use a…pail?"

"Well, yeah, we didn't," Vriska scoffed. She leaned back and rested her hands on her stomach. "You can sit down, you know."

"Uh, um…thanks." The chocolate-blooded troll quickly took a seat opposite Vriska. "If you…didn't use a pail…is that why you're so…?"

"Yep." Vriska smiled a bit. "It's called a baby. It's kind of like a human grub."

Tavros shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Uh-uhm…"

"Tavros?"

"S-sorry… It-it's just a lot to t-take in…"

"I hate it." Vriska sighed. She rubbed her stomach. "I mean, it really isn't so bad until you consider the face that there's a thing growing inside of me who uses me as her energy source, and kicks my internal organs, and makes me have to pee a lot…"

"Y-you can f-feel it…?" Tavros slowly reached out. "C-can I…?"

"Touch it?"

"Y-yeah…" He blushed.

"Sure." Vriska grabbed the other troll's hand and guided it to the spot on her stomach where Casey was kicking the most. Tavros cracked a gentle smile despite the fact that he was terrified of what Vriska might so to him.

"A-adorable…"

"What?"

"S-sorry!" Tavros yanked his hand away. "Uh-uhm…what are you, in…n-naming it?"

"Cassia." Vriska smiled. "Casey for short."

"Was that…" Tavros struggled to to grasp the human's name. "J-John's idea?"

"The Casey part was." She sat up more, still smiling. "Cassia was my idea."

Tavros nodded, not really knowing what to do.

The two just sat there, staring at each other.

"Well this is…awkward…" Tavros scratched his neck. "So, um…did you know that, uh…Gamzee and I are matesprits?"

"Really?!" Vriska started laughing. "Y-yeah… I, uh, made the first…move…"

"YOU made the first move?!" Vriska's jaw dropped. "Just don't get cocky. You don't want to end up like me, haha."

"Heh…I don't think that could happen…" Tavros was more uncomfortable than ever.

Vriska stood up and walked over to the cabinet. "I didn't know it could happen to me."

"But…why didn't you use a…a pail?" Tavros asked. "I-isnt that common sense…?"

"Ha. I thought you said condom sense." The cerulean-blood laughed as she took a cup out if the cabinet. "We forgot that, too."

"I thought you knew better than that…" he mumbled.

Vriska poured the cup full of orange juice and turned around. "I heard that!" she sang. "We just got caught up in the heat of the moment, that's all."

"What happened to the Vriska who never forgets?!" Tavros spat, immediately realizing his mistake. "Erm, I mean, um, uh…"

"Tavvy, I've changed." She smiled a gentle smile as she sat down at the table. "I'm human married to John, we're having a baby…" Vriska's words trailed off.

"But why are you being nice to me, Vriska?! You've always been a total bitch to me and we were kismeses!"

"I…just want to be nice." Vriska crossed her arms. "I'm gonna be the BEST mom, so I've gotta play the part."

"Well…" Tavros sighed. "…best of luck, then."

Vriska scoffed. "Are you kidding me? What luck."

"Well, you did say you have 'aaaaaaaall the luck,' after all…"

"I think I figured out pretty quickly that isn't true." She sighed. "I just…I don't know what to do anymore…"

"Um, well…" Tavros paused. "What do you want to do?"

"Like go do something, or…?"

"Y-yeah…" Tavros blushed as he turned away.

"There's not really much to do," Vriska told him. "John doesn't like me leaving unless I'm with him, just in case something happens…"

"Oh-oh, um…maybe I should leave—"

"No, you can stay," Vriska insisted. "I don't have anything better to do."

Tavros scratched his neck. "Um, well…maybe I could h-help you with the…grub stuff?"

"Well, I do have some clothes that need to be folded…" Vriska paused, thinking. "C'mon. You can help me fold clothes."

She stood up and went into the hallway, Tavros following her. The two trolls walked down to the end of the hallway and entered a small utility room with a washer and dryer in the corner.

"I think it's pretty obvious which clothes are whose," Vriska said with a laugh. She picked up one of John's t-shirts and began to fold it.

"No…" Tavros pushed Vriska's arm down. "You go sit down, and I-ill take care of this."

"Are you sure? I can fold half."

"You should sit down. I'll fold it all."

"But I have my…stuff…"

"I can fold them." Tavros picked an article of clothing out of the huge pile sitting on top of the dryer.

"Dammit!" Vriska reached across the washer and snatched a pair of bright blue panties from Tavros' hands. "Don't touch my underwear!"

"S-sorry!" Tavros blushed loudly. "I-I didn't see it!"

"That's why I wanted to do half." Vriska rolled her eyes and proceeded to grab whichever clothes she didn't want Tavros touching.

About fifteen minutes later, the two had folded every inch of clean laundry previously strewn across the room. They were separated into neat stacks depending on which clothes were whose.

"Well, we got that finished," Vriska said with relief as she looked at her phone. "Oh, it's almost lunchtime. I'm starving."

"Um…what would you like to eat?"

"I was wanting to pick up something." Vriska flipped her hair and walked into the kitchen. "You don't have to make me anything."

Tavros sighed. "I-I was wanting to be nice."

"Why do you even want to be nice to me?!" She sighed with frustration and pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

"I-I just wanna be nice, o-okay!" Tavros squeaked. "Please…?"

The blue-blooded troll rolled her eyes and sighed with frustration. " I wanted McDonald's."

"Uh-um… let me get it for you!" Scratching his neck, Tavros nervously looked around the room. "What would you like?"

"You can't drive, idiot."

"Who said I was driving?"

"Look, humans are stupid." Vriska grabbed her purse off the table. "You'll get jumped or something. You don't even have human money…" She opened the front door. "So, are you coming or what?"

"I… guess I  _am_  helping you…"

* * *

The ten-minute car ride to McDonald's was pretty awkward. Vriska was blasting music from her iPhone, which was pretty much all Marina & The Diamonds and some Lady Gaga. Tavros was uncomfortably hunched over in the passenger's seat, terrified of Vriska's driving skills.

Vriska sped into the parking lot and pulled into the drive-thru line. "What do you want?" she blankly asked.

"Uh-um…chicken nuggets…"

"Welcome to McDonald's," a voice said from the speaker. "How can I help you?"

"I'll have a number two with fries and a Coke, and a number ten."

"Alright, that'll be $7.89."

Vriska drive up to the drive-thru window and paid for her food, then waited for an employee to actually give her the food.

"Here you go," the employee said as he handed Vriska her bag of food.

"Thanks." Vriska grabbed the bag of food and took her cheeseburger out as she started driving.

"Here's your chicken nuggets," she said to Tavros, handing him the cardboard box as she took a bite. "This… isn't a burger."

Vriska frustratedly pulled into a parking space and cut off the engine. "I'm going to get what I ordered. Give me your food, and stay here."

Before Tavros could say anything, Vriska had gone inside.

"Excuse me." Vriska went up to the counter. "I think my order got mixed up."

"What about it?" This was the only reason Vriska hated going to McDonald's—most of the employees there didn't really seem to care. How in the world had Karkat ever put up with people like this?

Vriska set the paper sack on the counter and took out the receipt and the sandwich. "I ordered a cheeseburger and got a chicken sandwich instead."

"Lemme see that." The troll  _really_  didn't like the sardines in the employee's voice. "I'm sorry, but you already ate some of it. I can't refund or get you a new one if you already ate it."

"What?!"

"It's policy, ma'am."

"I've never heard of this so-called 'policy' before!" Vriska did air quotes with her fingers. "Could I at  _least_  get a refund?"

"Policy, ma'am."

"This is ridiculous!" Vriska grabbed the bag.

The manager made his way over to where the argument was taking place. "Perhaps we could give you a coupon for your next—"

"I don't want a coupon, I want my freaking burger!" She was lucky she had stopped herself from cursing in front of so many people. That would've gotten ugly. "This is ridiculous, so I am leaving."

She stormed out of the establishment in rage. "Utter bullshit," she mumbled to herself, getting back in the car.

Tavros looked at her curiously. "Did you—"

"Shut up, or I will bash your skull into the window."

Vriska angrily sped out of the parking lot and back to her house, surprisingly never getting pulled over. She threw the bag of food onto the table, not even caring that half of it had spilled out. "Fuck McDonald's," she mumbled. "Fuck it!"

"Sh-should I g-go back…?" Tavros asked, becoming very uncomfortable.

"Please."

Vriska waited until he had definitely left before plopping down in the couch and bursting into sobs. No one was any help anymore. She just wished Casey were out so the two of them and John could be a nice, happy family."

* * *

**-6:37 pm-**

"Vriska?"

John crouched down in front if the couch. Vriska was sprawled out, a blanket thrown on top of her body. "Babe, are you okay? You don't look so good." He rubbed her forehead. "You feel a little warm."

"I don't feel so good." Vriska opened her eyes.

"It's not Casey, is it? Do we need to go to the hospital?"

"No, I just had a rough day." She sniffed. "But, I at least folded all the laundry."

John smiled a but. "That's good at least." He helped his wife sit up. "Do you want to watch a movie? Maybe that will help you feel better."

Vriska smiled. "Sure."


	30. Labor Pains

Two weeks had passed. John's fall classes had started, so he had to tell an almost entirely new set of professors the situation. They totally understood, but he kind of got off to a bad start with them, as his first impression was young and irresponsible.

Vriska had just been chilling around the house, waiting to go into labor. Casey had finally dropped,so she knew the time would come soon. It just hadn't happened  _yet_.

* * *

**-Sunday, September 18, 2:53 pm/John & Vriska's house/40 weeks-**

Vriska frantically ran around the kitchen, wiping off the counters and table. "What time is it?" she asked.

"2:53." John sighed. "Vris, let me do that. You don't need to exert yourself on your due date."

"But the house looks awful!" She sighed with frustration and threw away the Clorox wipe. "Make sure they don't mess up anything!"

The doorbell rang and John ran over to it. "Glad you could make, it," he said to Dave and Jade. "Come on in."

Jade smiled as she and Dave walked inside. "I like your house."

"Thank you." John led his friends into the kitchen. "Everyone else should be getting here soon."

"Woah." Dave stopped when he saw Vriska. "Spiderbitch still hasn't had the kid yet?"

John rolled his eyes.

"I'm due today," Vriska told him. "I—"

The doorbell rang again. "I'll get it," Vriska said, walking to the door.

The rest of the people they had invited were waiting on the front porch. "Hi," Vriska sighed, stepping out of the way to let the Vantases, Rose, and Kanaya in. "There's food in the kitchen. Help yourselves, but try not to make a mess."

Kanaya smiled. "You seem to have taken charge of things," she said.

"I looked it up, it's called nesting, that means I'm going to have this baby soon." Vriska rested her hands on her stomach. "My due date's today, actually."

"Isn't that unsafe…?" Rose sat down at the table. "What if you were to go into labor while we're here?"

"If I go into labor, then I go into labor." Vriska plopped down in a chair, rubbing her stomach. "If I do, just don't freak out."

Everyone laughed uncomfortably.

"Well, um…" John shrugged. "Just help yourselves."

* * *

**-4:48 pm-**

Everyone had relocated to the living room to chat. Vriska and John were on the couch, the troll laying down with her head on John's lap. It was a fight for the chairs, however; there were six other people but only four kitchen chairs. After some dispute, Karkat and Terezi ended up sitting on the floor.

"Are you guys excited about the baby?" Jade asked, her eyes lit up. "I mean, I'd kind of expect you to be, but you never know…"

"Well, duh," Vriska said as she rolled her eyes. "I'm just irritated she hasn't come yet. Most babies are born before their due dates, and I was kind of expecting this one to…"

John nodded in agreement. "Yeah, for the past week my dad had called every day to ask if anything's happened."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"But why didn't you just asked to be induced?" Rose asked. "She'd probably be here already if you'd have done that."

"Rose." Vriska cradled her stomach protectively. "I've heard bad things about induction. I'm not doing  _anything_  to hurt my Casey."

She stood up. "Alright. I think I'm gonna go lay down before this thing breaks my back."

John followed her, grabbing her arm before she could go up the stairs. "Vriska," he said, full of concern, "are you  _sure_  you're fine?"

"Yeah, it's just a lot of weight to carry around, that's all." Vriska flashed her husband a smile before going upstairs.

"Well, I guess it's just us then." John shrugged as he sat back down on the couch. "Anyone want to sit here?"

* * *

**-10:48 pm-**

John had pretty much crashed after everyone had left. He managed to clean the kitchen somewhat, but left the rest for himself or Vriska to clean the next day.

He and his wife were sleeping in their bed, John totally out of it. He'd even fallen asleep with his glasses still on. Vriska was sleeping on her side, facing away from John. She'd fallen asleep pretty quickly as well.

Her eyes slowly opened and she looked at the clock. Dammit. It was only almost eleven. She'd only been asleep for a little over three hours.

Casey was restless. The baby inside of Vriska had been moving for the past what seemed like forever. She had hoped Casey would calm down once she was asleep, but no. That didn't happen.

The aching in her lower back hadn't gotten better either. It was maybe even worse. Although it was bothering her, she was too tired to really worry about it and just went back to sleep.

Then she felt it. A sharp pain in her lower stomach accompanied by the intensifying of the back pain. It was unlike anything she had felt before, but the pain soon resided.

"John!" Vriska gently shook his shoulder. "John, I think we need to go to the hospital."

"Ngh…" He rolled over, mumbling something about a walking tree. "That's nice, Vris."

Vriska rolled her eyes and turned on the light. "John, I'm serious!"

John slowly sat up. "Ungh…what?"

"John." Vriska grabbed his shoulders, jerking him towards her. "Get me to the hospital.  _Now_.'

"Oh god." John fell out of bed and scrambled to get up. "Um, uh…can I help you with anything?"

"I am getting dressed and getting in the car," she said as she marched over to the dresser. "Don't take too long."

Ten minutes later, Vriska was impatiently waiting in the car while John finished locking uo. "John, get your ass in the car!" she screamed as she tapped her foot.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" John double-checked the front door to make sure it was locked, then jogged over to the car. "Okay, let's go have a baby," he sighed, throwing his backpack into the back seat.

The entire 30-minute car ride was miserable. Vriska whined the whole time while John nervously sipped his coffee. The two finally reached the hospital and got checked in immediately.

* * *

 **-11:59 pm/Maple Valley Regional Hospital-**  
  
"Alright, Mrs. Egbert…" A nurse looked up from Vriska's area "down there". "It looks like you're dilated about three centimeters. Did you not notice it beforehand?"

"N-no…" Vriska cringed from the dull pain.

"Okay then." The nurse sighed as she stood up. "I'm going to be back in about an hour to check again, and then I'll give you the epidural if you're ready, alright?"

"Thank you." The troll managed a small smile as the nurse left.

She sighed as she turned towards her husband. "I think I'm going to go to sleep," she told him. "I know I'm not sleeping tomorrow."

John laughed a little. "Yeah, after I finish emailing the rest of my professors and my boss, I think I will too."

* * *

**-Monday, September 19, 5:33 am-**

Vriska had been given the epidural and had now calmed down some. She was lying in the hospital bed half asleep, blankly staring at the muted television in the corner. She was honestly surprised there was even a TV in the delivery rooms.

"John?" she mumbled.

"Mm…what?" he asked, sitting up in the reclining chair.

"What are we going to do once Casey's here?"

"Well…raise her, obviously." He laughed a little. "Everything'll be fine. Go back to sleep."

"Al…right…" She yawned before rolling over onto her other side.

A few hours passed. Vriska and John were eating their breakfasts. She was eating toast with grape jelly, something that wasn't much but was one of the only things she was allowed to eat during labor. She sure as hell wasn't waiting to eat until Casey was out; that would probably be a while.

Her contractions had gotten much worse but weren't totally unbearable. The epidural had helped a lot, and she was very thankful for that. The doctor had estimated she had been in labor for about twelve hours now, maybe even more, since Vriska had told her her back had been hurting for a few hours before she first noticed the contractions. She was really hoping it wouldn't be much longer, but her water still hadn't broke and the contractions had plateaued.

Vriska winced as her muscles tightened again, but waited about a minute for the pain to go away and resumed eating. Although she wanted Casey to be out of her body and in her arms, she wasn't looking forward to all the hard work she was going to have to do later that day.

* * *

**-1:38 pm-**

"John!" Vriska whined. "John, go get the nurse. Please." She grabbed her stomach as she groaned.

"What is it? Are you ready to push?"

"I—I don't know. Just please get her!"

John hurried out of the room and down the hallway. "My wife," he said as he stopped to catch his breath, "she needs a nurse."

"Room 413, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"I'll send her right away."

"Thank you!" John ran back to the room Vriska was in and sat back down.

"Well?!" Vriska gave John a piercing look.

"Oh, um…she said she'd be here as soon as possible."

The cerulean-blood groaned again as she rested her hands on top of her stomach. "Have you talked to your dad yet?"

"Yeah, he said he and my grandparents are coming. Don't worry, they're not gonna be in here until after Casey's born."

He and Vriska looked up as the nurse finally walked into the room. "So what was it you needed?" she asked with a bit of a sigh. "Do you need to be checked again?"

"Please."

The nurse sat down on the stool at the foot of the bed to look. "Well," she said with a smile, "you should be ready to push within the next hour or so."

"Really?" Vriska exclaimed. "Wow…"

The blonde lady continued to smile. "Just call me or Dr. Browne if you feel like you need to push, alright?"

"Okay."

The nurse smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Vriska turned to John. "John, I don't think I can do this."

"Vris, babe…" John took her hand up in his. "You can do this. I believe in you. It won't happen for too long, and then Casey'll be here."

"I'm not talking about getting her out." Vriska paused, beginning to cry. "I'm talking about…about being a mom."

Squeezing her hand, John gave Vriska a smile. "Vriska, you're going to be a great mom. I _trust_ you."

"B-but…" The troll gasped in between sobs, which were now a bit louder due to contraction pains. "I've—I've been such an awful person all my life! I don't want her to grow up to be like me!"

"You don't want her to grow up and be her own person?" John sat on the edge of the bed. "Vriska, I wouldn't have married you if I thought you couldn't do something like this. You're going to be the best mom  _ever_  and we're gonna make everyone else jealous. Okay?"

Vriska nodded, sniffing. "Okay."

* * *

The contractions kept getting worse and worse as the minutes went by. They were getting closer together as well; soon Vriska had to call in Dr. Browne to begin the delivery process. Mr. Egbert and John's grandparents were anxiously waiting in the waiting room, hoping to hear "it's a girl" at any moment.

"Alright, Vriska," Dr. Browne instructed, "I'll need you to push when I tell you to, okay?"

Vriska nodded. Her entire body was drenched in sweat; she would have made an Equius joke if she was in the mood to. John was looking on, ready to snap some pictures of Casey when she made her first appearance in the world.

"Push…hold, one, two, three…" Dr. Browne looked up at Vriska with hopeful eyes. "You're doing great. Breathe, breathe." Vriska did as she was told, sweat dripping down her chin and soaking her hair. "Push…"

The troll let out a scream unlike anything John had ever heard before. Worse than when he was seven and broke his arm. Worse than when he was in elementary school and the power went out for a couple of hours during class. Worse than when the star quarterback of the high school football team had broken his leg mid-game. This was the sound of excruciating pain…and it was coming from his wife.

"You're doing great, you're doing great." Dr. Browne repeated the process over and over again, Vriska's screams becoming louder and louder as Casey's head began to crown. John was trying to comfort his wife, but soon became more of a nuisance than a help as assurance really wasn't helping.

"Alright, just one more push, okay?"

Vriska nodded, absolutely terrified. One more push and there would be another living being in the room. One more push and she would become a mom. One more push and her old life would be over.

"Push!"

Vriska screamed and used her last bit of energy to push the baby out. She gave John a relieved smile, waiting to hear "Vris, you did it."

But John didn't say that.

No cry came from the child.

The room was silent.

Vriska's heart was beating so hard, she was sure the bed was moving along with it. All the hard work she had put forth…all the things she had been hoping for…had they just been suddenly taken away from her?

A tiny scream erupted from the foot of the bed and the entire room seemed to sigh with relief. "It's a little girl," Dr. Browne said with a relieved smile, holding up Casey for Vriska to see.

Vriska began to cry. Casey was gorgeous, even though the little baby was covered in fluid and other stuff that had been in the womb along with her. John had to agree, as he was sobbing as he cut the umbilical cord.

"Let's get you cleaned off…" A nurse took Casey over to a small table and began to clean her off with a soft towel, suctioning fluid from her nose and mouth.

"You did it, Vris." John smiled, watching as the nurse cleaned off his daughter. "Thank you."

Vriska couldn't do anything but smile back as she continued to catch her breath and take in the day's events.

The nurse motioned for Dr. Browne to come over to the table where Casey was lying. John and Vriska watched curiously as the two women discussed something that sounded urgent.

"Mr. and Mrs. Egbert…" The doctor had a bit of sadness in her voice.

"Yes?"

"I kind of hate to tell you this, but…your daughter's having a  _very_  difficult time breathing. We're going to have to send her to the NICU."


	31. Meet Casey

**-2:37 pm-**

NEW MESSAGE

To:  _Dad, Grandpa, Dave Strider, Jade Harley, Rose Lalonde, Karkat Vantas, Terezi Vantas_

Text:  _Cassia Jane Egbert was born at 2:20 pm on September 19. 8 lbs 3 oz. Things are not well. Will keep you all updated._

John pressed "send" and sighed. The doctor still hadn't come back with more information on Casey. As far as he knew, his daughter could be in the NICU for a while.

Vriska was a wreck. She blamed everything on herself. Another nurse had come in after Casey had been gone for a while and asked her some questions about what she did during the pregnancy that might have been harmful to the baby. "Smoking" and "anorexia" didn't sound very good. Her entire body currently felt as if it was on fire, which didn't help either.

She was busy sobbing when someone knocked on the door. "I'll get it," John told her, walking over to the entrance to the room.

He opened the door and was surprised to find his dad and grandparents there. "Oh my goodness, is everything alright?" Peggy asked as John stepped into the hallway. "What happened?"

"We don't exactly know yet," he replied. "Casey's in the NICU. She's having trouble breathing, which they said is rare for being born at full-term. They're trying to figure out what the problem is."

"Oh my."

Bob rested his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Is Vicky—"

"Vriska."

"—is she doing alright?"

John shook his head. "She really doesn't want to be bothered right now. It'd be best to wait a bit until she calms down."

The small group looked up as the pediatrician approached them in the hallway. "Mr. Egbert?" he asked, motioning for John to follow him into the room.

Vriska looked up at her husband and the doctor entering the room. "Have—have you found anything wrong?"she asked, her voice quavering.

The pediatrician sighed as he sat down on a stool. "She has a condition called transient tachypnea of the newborn, or TTN," he told the new parents. "That means a lot of the amniotic fluid in her lungs never got expelled, but we managed to get rid of most of it. She has breathing tubes in to help her start out, and she should recover in a few days, but she's more likely to develop asthma in the future."

John sighed.

"When will we get to see her?" Vriska asked.

"Well, she might be in the NICU for a couple more hours, but I'll ask a nurse to come and get you so you can see her."

Vriska smiled. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. I'll be right back."

The pediatrician left and Vriska looked up at John. "We're gonna get to see our little Peanut," she said with relief.

John smiled. "Finally."

A few minutes later a nurse came in with a wheelchair to take Vriska down to the NICU. The troll was bubbling with excitement as the three went down the many hallways. She was finally going to get to see her baby girl! Even if it wasn't in the way she had imagined.

The two glass doors with a sign that said "NICU" were now in sight, and Vriska was beginning to get scared. She didn't want to see the poor little babies in there that were not hers, and she knew some weren't even going to have the chance to live a day, but it pained her. No one should have the pain of going through that; Casey being just a little sick was bad enough.

They passed the several sick babies and finally got to a glass incubator in the very back. "She's right here," the nurse said with a smile, stopping the wheelchair in front of it.

Casey was helplessly lying in there, the CPAP machine helping her take tiny breaths. She had a full head of very thick dark brown hair and skin so pale it was almost porcelain. John and Vriska began silently crying; this was their daughter. And she was so beautiful.

"Would you like to hold her?" the nurse asked.

"S-sure." Vriska sniffed.

"Be very careful with her breathing tubes." The nurse put on a pair of gloves and slowly lifted Casey out.

Vriska smiled and sniffed as she finally received her daughter. "Hi Casey," she whispered, stroking the newborn's hair.

"Is that her name?" the nurse asked. "Casey?"

Vriska nodded, trying not to cry too much.

"That's really cute." The nurse smiled and turned around to talk to one of her coworkers.

"Vris, she's gorgeous." John smiled and reached his hand out to touch Casey's cheek.

Casey opened her eyes a little to see what was going on. They were a deep ocean blue, unlike any human eye color John had ever seen before.

"Hi, Casey," Vriska laughed. "I'm your Mommy, and this is your Daddy."

The baby let out a small cry; John and Vriska translated this as her way of saying "hi" back. She reached up and grabbed her mother's hospital gown.

"I have very good news." The nurse smiled as she turned back around. "Casey's well enough to be taken off the CPAP, and then she can go back with you."

* * *

**-3:50 pm-**

"I can't believe she's here." Vriska pulled the pink hat on Casey's head down a little more. "She's ours, John."

"You did a great job." John laughed before kissing his wife. "Can I hold her?"

"Of course."

Vriska handed the pink bundle to John, who immediately began to cry yet again. "She looks just like you, Vris," he told his wife, then kissed Casey on the forehead.

Someone knocked on the door and John and Vriska looked up. "Come in," Vriska said.

The door opened and in came Mr. Egbert, Bob, and Peggy. "How's my little granddaughter doing?" John's dad asked with a smile.

"She's doing better." Vriska smiled and looked over at John, who handed Casey back to her. "Would you like to hold her?"

"Sure." Mr. Egbert gladly took the baby, cradling her in his arms. "Wow, I feel so old," he laughed, looking up at his son and daughter-in-law. "You two did a great job. She's going to be beautiful."

Peggy snuck a peek over Mr. Egbert's shoulder. "Oh, she's so precious," the woman gasped. "You two sure do make beautiful children."

John and Vriska smiled. "Thank you."

The family continued to converse for a while, stopping to coo over Casey very often. Although Vriska was exhausted, she wanted to savor the moments and forced herself to stay awake. She couldn't wait to take Casey home.

* * *

**-5:48 pm-**

Rose and Kanaya walked down the hallway, anxious to see John and Vriska's child. Rose was holding an "it's a girl" balloon and Kanaya was carrying a small gift for Casey.

Finally they came upon room 612, the room Vriska had been put in after Casey was delivered. After getting an okay from Rose, Kanaya reached up and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Vriska brushed her bangs back out of her face, trying to at least appear decent for whoever was coming inside.

The couple came inside the hospital room, smiles on their faces. "Hi," Rose said as she tied the balloon to a chair. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well. Everything's fine with Casey, too." Vriska looked back down at Casey. "It was a lot at first, but she got better."

"I just can't wait to bring her home now," John added.

Kanaya set down the bag and walked over to the bedside. "May I see her?" she asked with a smile.

"You can hold her, if you'd like."

Vriska slipped Casey into Kanaya's waiting arms. The jade-blood gasped when she saw the tiny thing that was half Vriska, half John. She looked much more like a human than she did a troll, but she was still Vriska all over. Kanaya couldn't believe Vriska had created such a doll.

"She's beautiful, Vriska." Kanaya slowly reached up and touched Casey's face. The baby winced and let out a small cry. "Remember when you first told me you were going to have her?"

"That was awful," Vriska laughed. "I never want something like that to happen again."

Rose peeked over Kanaya's shoulder and smiled when she saw Casey. "She's so cute," she told the new parents. "Is she alright?"

"She was just having some problems breathing, that's all." Vriska smiled as she took Casey back. "She's better now. We're going to have to stay until Wednesday so they can make sure she's alright, though."

"Oh!" Rose quickly turned around and picked up the gift. "I almost forgot! We got Casey just one more thing."

"You didn't have to do that!" John exclaimed. Vriska handed Casey over to him before she received the gift.

Vriska took the white tissue paper out of the pink bag and removed a very tiny blue shirt and a pair of brown shorts to go with it. The shirt had a tiny white butterfly embroidered on the chest and was the perfect size for a newborn.

"Rose! Kanaya!" Vriska smiled. "I love it! Thank you so much!"

The couple smiled. "You're very welcome," Rose replied.

* * *

**-7:02 pm-**

"God, I'm tired," Vriska yawned. John was currently holding Casey, as Vriska had decided to take a small nap after Rose and Kanaya left. "Can I hold her again?"

"Sure." John didn't want to give his daughter up, but since Vriska had been carrying her inside of her for nine months, it was only fair. "She was very good while you were asleep."

"That's good." Vriska sighed and looked down at her daughter. "I'm surprised she hasn't cried much."

"Don't jinx it." John laughed, then took out his phone.

Someone knocked on the door. "Come in," Vriska said, slightly confused. Besides Mr. Egbert and John's grandparents, Rose and Kanaya were the only ones who had told the Egberts they were stopping by. Dave and Jade weren't supposed to be coming until the next day, either.

The door slowly opened and Vriska saw the tip of yet another "it's a girl" balloon. In walked Karkat and Terezi.

"What are you guys doing here?" Vriska asked, pulling Casey in just a little bit closer to her body. "I thought you had to work."

"No, I got off early today." Terezi sighed. "How are you?"

"Tired." Vriska laughed a little and Terezi set a present down. "Do you want to see Casey?"

Both Terezi and Karkat went up to the side of the bed to get a look at the tiny thing John and Vriska had anticipated. "She's so tiny," Terezi whispered.

"Why don't you hold her?" Vriska handed Casey to the teal-blood with a smile. "I know you guys will have one in the future, be it two months or two years."

"She doesn't have any horns…" Karkat reached up and touched the baby's thick hair. "That's weird. I thought she would look more like a troll than a human."

"I was kind of surprised too," Vriska agreed.

"She's so cute!" Terezi squealed unexpectedly. Everyone else in the room looked up at her, since that wasn't what she would usually do. "…Sorry." She blushed and handed the child back to Vriska.

"I agree," Vriska laughed. She stroked her daughter's cheeks. "John says she looks like me."

"She does." Terezi shrugged. "Maybe she'll grow up to be like you, too."

Vriska shook her head. "No. She'll wait to get married and have kids  _after_  she grows up."


	32. Keeping Up

**-Monday, September 26, 1:01 pm/John & Vriska's house/1 week old-**

"John!" Vriska cried into the phone, rocking Casey back and forth with her other arm. "Help me!"

"What is it?" John asked with a worried tone on the other side of the line. "Did something happen?"

"I can't get Casey to shut up!" Vriska sobbed. "She's been crying for over an hour! I've checked her diaper, I've tried feeding her, I've given her a pacifier, and she still won't stop crying!"

"Uh-um…" John honestly didn't know what to do. "D-did you try putting her to sleep?"

"I'll try again!" Vriska sounded exhausted. "I love you!"

"Love you too."

The troll sighed as she hung up and tossed her phone on the couch. "Casey," she whined, patting the infant on the back as she sat down. "You are such a handful!"

The baby did nothing but continue to cry.

"Are you  _sure_  you're not hungry?" Vriska pulled down her shirt collar to check again.

When a nurse at the hospital first asked her if she wanted to try breast feeding, Vriska wasn't sure. She didn't know if it was even possible. But after coming to the quick conclusion that breast feeding might be quicker than fixing a bottle ten times a day, she decided to try it. Surprisingly, Casey latched on on the first try, and Vriska just decided to stick with it.

"No, I guess not." She pulled her collar back up and sighed. "Maybe you're sleepy."

Vriska took Casey upstairs to her nursery and sat down in the rocking chair. Slowly rocking back and forth, she began to softly hum something she came up with off the top of her head.

Casey's cries eventually began to die down, and soon she was asleep in Vriska's arms.

"Why do you like to torture Mommy?" Vriska laughed a little as she gently laid Casey down in her bassinet. "I love you, Casey-Peanut."

Her face contorted into an almost grimace, then she slowly laughed. "Nah, that doesn't sound right. I love you, Peanut." Vriska bent down and gently pecked her daughter on the forehead.

The troll stumbled into the master bedroom and crashed onto the bed. She'd gotten an average of five hours of sleep a night, and she knew it would only get worse as Casey got older. She might as well get some sleep before Casey woke back up.

The next thing she knew, the shrill screeching she had heard earlier had returned. "Casey…" Vriska yawned, slowly getting out of bed. "What is it this time?"

Once in the nursery, Vriska slowly lifted her baby out of the bassinet. A shocking odor instantly hit her nose and she sighed. "At least I know what your problem is this time," she said to the newborn.

After changing Casey's diaper, Vriska carefully took her downstairs and strapped her into the green and white cradle set up in the living room. This was a gift from Bob and Peggy, and Vriska was very thankful for it. It allowed her to watch TV, cook dinner, get up to use the bathroom without having to keep an eye on Casey 24/7.

"I'll be right back," she told the baby, then went into the bathroom.

"Oh my god." Vriska was almost terrified of her reflection. Dark bags hung from beneath her eyes, which had very visible veins all over. Her long hair was basically one huge knot, and she couldn't remember the last time she had even put on makeup.

She had been looking forward to being skinny again after Casey was born, just not as skinny as before because that was anorexic. Vriska  _was_  skinnier than when she was pregnant, but she had to admit, she honestly couldn't tell a difference. Thankfully John didn't care, but she secretly did.

On top of looking like a homeless person, Vriska's boobs hurt and her stomach was covered in ugly bluish stretch marks. If only baby books had mentioned this, maybe she wouldn't have felt so badly…

She sighed before going back into the living room to watch a bit of TV before John came home. Casey was still lying in the cradle, staring up at the ceiling looking bug-eyed.

"Do you wanna come sit with Mommy?" Vriska went over to the cradle and lifted Casey out of it. She laid down on the couch and rested Casey's head on her chest.

The baby seemed really calm, which, in turn, calmed Vriska down as well. Maybe she could catch up on the nap that had gotten rudely interrupted…

* * *

**-6:42 pm-**

"I'm home!" John called, trying not to slam the front door. He threw his backpack on the table and was surprised to not find Vriska in the kitchen making dinner.

He went into the living room and smiled when he found his wife and daughter. The two were sound asleep on the couch, Vriska looking like an angel and Casey like a doll, both as always.

This had been his first day back at school since Casey was born, and he spent most of the day worrying about Vriska and Casey. Were they alright? Was Casey being well-behaved, or was she being the average newborn? Was Vriska ready to claw her own eyes out? Judging by the scene in the living room, everything had been fine other than the episode during his lunch.

Vriska's eyes slowly opened. "Hey," she whispered with a smile. "Do you wanna hold Casey?"

"Sure." John slowly picked up his daughter and held her close to his chest. "How was your day?"

"Exhausting." Vriska laughed softly. "I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world, though."

* * *

**-Thursday, October 20, 1:19 pm/Maple Valley Pediatric Care Center-**

"Come on, Casey," Vriska told her daughter with a smile as she unhooked the car seat. "We have to go see the doctor! It'll be  _real_  quick, I promise."

Casey didn't do anything but wiggle underneath the blanket and open her eyes a bit.

Vriska got Casey checked in and took a seat in the waiting room. The only other people waiting were a dad with his five-year-old son and a woman with her daughter who looked old enough to be in high school.  **(A/N This is how I feel whenever I go for a check-up)**

"Oh, my god!" The woman smiled as she leaned over to get a look at Casey. "She's so adorable!"

"Thank you." By now Vriska had gotten used to all the oohs and ahhs from random people, and it didn't really bother her.

"How old is she now?"

"Exactly a month yesterday." The troll put her phone back in her purse, or rather, Casey's diaper bag. "Her name is Casey."

"Cassia?" A nurse stuck her head out of the hallway before the lady could make another comment.

Vriska gathered her things and stood up with Casey's car seat. "Hi," she told the nurse with a relieved sigh.

"Hello." The nurse smiled and led Vriska and Casey back to an area with scales and height charts. "Alrighty, first we'll need to get her weight, and then we'll see how long she is."

The nurse helped Vriska gently lay Casey down on the scale and began to take measurements. "It looks like she's about—"

Finally Casey realized the unfamiliar surroundings and burst into cries. Another nurse and an older patient stared at the screaming baby on the scale.

"Someone's not happy," the nurse laughed. "Nine pounds, 7 ounces. She's looking good."

Vriska picked up Casey and proceeded to calm her down so the other patients wouldn't have to suffer.

Soon after getting measured, Casey was in her mother's arms again. The two were sitting in a room, waiting for the doctor to show up. Vriska looked down at Casey with a smile. The infant was staring up at the ceiling and flexing her tiny fingers, waiting for something to happen.

Finally the door opened and in came the doctor. "Hello," he sighed with a smile. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing fine." Vriska smiled.

"That's good." The doctor sat down on the rolly stool. "Let's see how Cassia's doing…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know where I was going with this chapter


	33. A "Happy" Thanksgiving

**-Friday, November 4, 6:09 pm/Ruby Tuesday/1 ½ months old-**

"It was so nice meeting you for dinner today," Jennifer told Vriska. "We should do it again sometimes, maybe when the girls are a bit older, though."

"We should." Vriska smiled. "Bella's so cute!"

"Casey's adorable too!" Jennifer laughed. "Alright, I guess I'll talk to you soon?"

"I guess so," Vriska agreed.

"Good luck with everything!"

"Thanks, you too! Bye!"

Vriska waved as she and Casey went to the car. Although she got along surprisingly well with Jennifer, she couldn't wait to get home so she could see John. Casey also became calmer when she was around her Daddy.

The car pulled into the driveway and Vriska got the car seat out of the back. John's car was already there, which was a relief.

"I'm here!" Vriska called as she opened the door. She set down Casey's car seat before hanging up her coat.

"Where were you?" John poked his head out of the kitchen. "I made spaghetti."

"Oh, I just got back from eating dinner with Jennifer! I'm sorry!" Vriska lifted Casey out of the car seat and took her into the kitchen.

"How is everything with her and Mitch? Didn't she have the baby?"

"Yeah, three weeks ago. Her name's Isabella."

"That's cute." John smiled and turned off the stove eye. "Can I hold Casey?"

"Sure." Vriska handed the infant to her husband. Casey instantly twisted her mouth into the closest thing to a smile and reached her arms out towards her father.

"How's my little Peanut?" John cooed. He tickled her stomach with his finger. "I'm gonna put her in her cradle," he told Vriska.

"That's fine with me." She sat down at the kitchen table while John took Casey into the living room.

Suddenly John's phone rang on the table. "I'll get it!" Vriska told him.

"Hello?" It was Mr. Egbert. "Mm-hm…yeah…that sounds fine. I'll ask him. Okay. Bye."

John walked back into the kitchen. "Who was that?" he asked.

"Your dad."

"What was he calling for?"

"He was wondering if you wanted to have Thanksgiving at your grandparents' house."

John froze. At his grandparents' house? He loved his grandparents and they weren't too bad, but…the rest of the family on his mom's side. He had an aunt and two uncles, and each of them have three kids each… Would he, Vriska, Casey, and his dad be too much? Then again, if he didn't go, Thanksgiving definitely wouldn't be as extravagant…

"Uh-um…sure." He laughed nervously. "It's fine."

"Are you sure? You don't sound sure."

"Well…" John sighed and sat down at the table. "It's…I don't know. I don't want to be a disappointment to my family, with Casey and all…at least we're married…"

"What do you mean, a disappointment? You're handsome, you're smart—"

"I'm talking about with Casey. My aunt and uncles were in their mid- to late-twenties when they got married. I think I even have a cousin who's as old as Casey."

"Oh, that's their problem." Vriska scoffed. "Everything will be fine. I want to meet your family."

* * *

**-Thursday, November 24, 5:12 pm/Bob & Peggy Evans' house/2 months old-**

"Grandma?" asked Alexis, John's seven-year-old cousin. "Who else is gonna be here?"

"Well…" Peggy thought for a moment. "Let's see…your Uncle Joseph, your cousin John, his wife, their daughter—"

"When did John have a baby?!" John's Aunt Joanna stood up. "Isn't he just out of high school?!"

"He's twenty," Peggy laughed. "He's responsible enough."

"But that's too young! He's not even out of college yet!"

"I was nineteen when I had your sister, Joanna."

"That was 1969, Mom."

"Hush." Peggy rolled her eyes. "Oh, I guess that's them pulling in!"

Vriska lifted Casey out of the car seat and placed her in the baby sling around her shoulders. "Are you sure you don't wanna take her car seat inside?" John asked.

"I don't want anyone tripping over her." Vriska shut the car door and grabbed Casey's diaper bag. "Alright, let's get this over with."

"I'm right there with you," Mr. Egbert agreed.

"Dad!" John rolled his eyes. "They're not  _that_  bad!"

"I'm not saying they're bad, I'm saying I'm worried about what they'll say."

"But—"

Mr. Egbert ignored John and knocked on the door. The four waited in silence before Peggy answered it.

"Come in, come in!" She stepped out of the way so the small family could come inside. "How are you all?"

"We're doing well." John's dad smiled and hung his coat on a coat rack. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh, they're in the living room. Come on." Peggy led the Egberts into the living room to meet up with the rest of the family.

Everyone froze when they saw Vriska. Only a couple of John's family members were able to—or wanted to—attend the wedding, so not many had seen Vriska before. A few thought she was still a teenager, even though her twentieth "birthday" had been the week before. Everyone had secretly agreed, though, that she was very…different.

"Hi everyone," John said to break the silence. He gave a little wave before looking over at Vriska. "Um…this is my wife, Vriska, and our daughter, Casey."

"Hi." Vriska tried her best at an enthusiastic smile.

One of John's uncles stood up. "Hi, I'm John's uncle Steve," he told Vriska. "I believe we met at the wedding."

"Oh, I remember you!" Vriska exclaimed. She remembered Uncle Steve as being easy to crack a joke, and he didn't seem to mind John getting married so young.

"Oh!" Uncle Steve turned around and gestured to a woman holding a baby who was maybe a couple months older than Casey. "This is my wife, Brooke. Annabelle there is almost six months old."

"Casey's a little over two months," John replied.

"Really?" Steve turned around and looked at two young boys who were obviously his sons. "Steven, Chase, can you say hi to your cousin?"

"Hi." The two boys were reluctant to wave.

John continued to introduce Vriska to everyone else there. Aunt Joanna, the second oldest, was married to Uncle Daniel, and they had Sam, Ryan, and Alexis. Uncle Jacob, the second youngest, and Aunt Claudia had Hayley, Mason, and Aubrey. It was hard for Vriska to keep up with the names, but she knew it would get easier over time.

* * *

**-5:57 pm/Karkat & Terezi's house-**

"Karkat…" Terezi sighed, playing with the store-bought turkey on her plate. "I know we've talked about this a hundred times already, but…"

Karkat set down his fork and sighed. "Terezi…if we can't have kids, then we can't have kids. There's nothing we can do about it, except maybe adoption, but…"

"How will we tell a human kid we're not human?" Terezi laughed a little. "It's too expensive, anyway. We might as well just give up on it and get used to it being just us."

Karkat reached across the table and squeezed his wife's hand. "Look, Terezi…everything will be fine. I know that since John and Vriska have Casey you've been down on the subject matter, but…don't be!"

"But…why are we even celebrating this stupid human holiday if we don't have anything to be thankful for?!"

"Terezi." Karkat looked his wife dead straight in the eye. "We have  _lots_  of things to be thankful for. Like the fact that we're not dead right now." He sighed with frustration, and then calmed down a bit. "Terezi, everything is going to be fine. We can still be happy, even if we don't have kids. Trust me."

* * *

**-6:07 pm/Bob & Peggy Evans' house-**

Vriska quietly listened to everyone else talking at the table. She still wasn't very comfortable in front of everyone, and not many were comfortable in front of her, either.

"So how did you two meet, exactly…?" John's Aunt Joanna asked the young couple uneasily. She hoped the answer would be decent and not totally weird.

"Um…we met online," John hastily answered. It was close enough.

"Online?"

"Excuse me, I'm gonna change Casey's diaper." Vriska stood up and left for the bathroom, to do as she said but also to escape the possible scolding.

"How old is she?" Joanna whispered to her nephew.

"She's twenty."

"John." Aunt Joanna stood up and motioned for John to follow her into the living room.

He knew what was coming. Ever since Maggie had died, Joanna thought it was her job as the second oldest and John's only aunt to "steer him in the right direction". She had attempted to become John's replacement mom, but the person who had come closest to that was his Nanna.

"Aunt Joanna…" John sighed. "Please don't."

"I'm just worried about you, John," Aunt Joanna told him. "You've changed a lot, and I don't think in a good way."

"If this is about Vriska, you don't know her well enough to judge." John didn't mean to be rude, but he knew he needed to be assertive if he wanted to get his point across. "Sure, we made some bad decisions, but we're happy and we have Casey. End of discussion."

"She just seems a bad influence, that's all." Joanna sighed, double-checking to make sure Vriska wasn't there. "She was obviously pregnant when you two got married, I don't understand why you both thought you could get away with it. And thinking about Casey's age…Vis-whatever-her-name-is couldn't have been twenty when she was conceived."

"Stop!" John didn't mean to raise his voice, and blushed as he lowered his tone. "Ever since Mom died, you've tried your best to 'raise' me like you think Mom would have. I understand I've made mistakes, and I should've waited a few more years before getting married and having kids. But you don't know the full story. It's not your place to judge."

* * *

**-8:16 pm/Mr. Egbert's car-**

"I know they hated me." Vriska sighed and played with Casey's blanket. "I'm the one who ruined the perfect boy's 'perfect' status." She rolled her eyes.

"They don't  _hate_  you," John reassured. "Well…maybe Aunt Joanna doesn't like you, but she's always been pretty judgmental…"

"John." Mr. Egbert coughed. "Anyway, Vriska, I honestly wouldn't worry about it. She didn't like me at first because I was 'stealing' her only sister." He softly chuckled.

Mr. Egbert dropped the younger Egberts off at their house and went back home. Once Vriska had gotten Casey to sleep, she and John got ready for bed as well.

"Vris, let me tell you something." John glanced at the clock, which read 9:59 pm. "I'm sorry about my family and all, especially my Aunt…"

"It's fine." Vriska yawned. "I just wish people would stop giving us a hard time."

"I know," John sighed. "Anyway, now that Thanksgiving's over, we need to start thinking about Christmas. It'll be our first together, and Casey's first Christmas."


	34. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

**-Friday, December 16, 5:51 pm/John & Vriska's house/2 ½ months old-**

Vriska closed the front door and hung up her coat. It was her first day back to work, and she was exhausted. All of her coworkers had begged and begged for a picture of Casey; well, all but the two who had been hired during her absence. And since it was a Friday, it was extremely busy.

"John?" Vriska called. She looked around in the kitchen and saw no one. No one in the living room or office, either. And he wouldn't be in the basement, since it wasn't finished. Finally Vriska just went upstairs to change into other clothes.

She walked into the bedroom and found John seated on the floor, bent over to change Casey's diaper. Casey was doing whatever babies do, chewing on her hand, not a care in the world as her father put a fresh diaper on her.

"What are you doing?" Vriska laughed. She walked over to them and sat on the bed. "Why are you changing her diaper on one of my shirts? Her nursery's only like twenty feet away from here!"

"I—I panicked, okay?" John forced a laugh before standing up with Casey. "What time is it?"

"Almost six." Vriska took Casey from John's arms and stood back up. "When did your dad want us to drop her off?"

"He said any time past 6:15." John ran his fingers through his hair. "Were you going to change? I'm ready if you are."

Vriska changed into a sweater and let her hair down, then went downstairs to Casey and John. "Are you ready?" John asked his wife, putting Casey into her carseat.

"Mm-hm." Vriska nodded, and the family of three went out to the car.

* * *

**-7:02 pm/El Caporal Mexican Restaurant-**

"How do you think Casey is?" Vriska worried, stirring her drink with her straw. "Do you think your dad's taking good care of her?"

"Vris, all she does is eat, sleep, cry, and poop. She doesn't do much. I'm sure he's doing just fine with her! I was a baby once too, you know." John wiped his mouth with a napkin and picked his fork back up.

"Don't say that!" Vriska playfully swatted at her husband's hand and sighed. "So, what are we going to do tonight?"

This was John and Vriska's first date night out of the house since Casey was born. After they finished eating, John was going to take Vriska somewhere special—a surprise. "The place looks especially beautiful at night"—that was the only hint John had given his wife.

* * *

**-7:19 pm/the Egberts' car-**

"Where are we going?" Vriska asked John yet again. She was very anxious to know; she didn't like surprises.

"Hey, hey," John told her with a smirk. "Remember, it's a surprise! I don't want to spoil it!"

"Augh, fine." Vriska rolled her eyes and stared out the window.

The car pulled into a parking space on the side of the street downtown and John stopped the car. "Come on," he said as he pulled on his gloves.

"Why are we at the park?" Vriska followed her husband onto the sidewalk and ran to catch up with him. "It's freezing outside!"

John laughed. "It's still a surprise, but let's just say I used to do this every year when I was younger."

 _What could that be?_ Vriska thought. She knew John didn't like talking about his childhood very much, so this must involve a good memory.

The Egberts continued to walk down the sidewalk, eventually reaching the bottom of the small hill. Vriska could see lights draped around trees and a gathering of quite a few people.

"Have you ever…been ice skating before?" John smiled. "I thought it would be fun."

"No…?" Vriska had heard this term before, but had never been. "Is it easy?"

"It takes some getting used to, that's for sure." The brunet led his wife over to a stand that sold the ice skates and tickets. "You're a ten, right?"

* * *

**-7:23 pm/Karkat & Terezi's house-**

"No, Karkles! I think it should go here!" Terezi insisted as she pointed to another spot in the living room. The two had just bought their Christmas tree that day, and a pitiful, tiny thing it was. Still, Karkat was exhausted from pushing it around so many times.

"Alright, no more!" he exclaimed, rolling his eyes. Karkat wiped his brow and sighed. "We've put the piece of shit up, now can we go watch our movie?!"

"Why are you so frustrated?" pouted Terezi, crossing her arms. "You weren't like this this morning."

"I don't know, okay?" Karkat plopped down on the roughed-up couch and patted the cushion next to him. "Come on, sit down. We've been planning this movie night for weeks."

* * *

 

**-7:49 pm/the park-**

"Just take my hand, okay?" John smiled a trusting smile as he held out his hand for Vriska. "I'll catch you if you fall, I promise."

Vriska slowly stepped onto the ice and tried to put one foot in front of the other, but screeched as she slipped and fell into John's arms.

"It's okay, I've got you." He smiled and helped her stand back up.

Vriska latched onto her husband's shoulder as the two slowly glided around on the ice. She eventually got used to it, and was soon able to skate on her own.

"I'm going to use the bathroom, okay?" Vriska told John, slowly skating towards the gate. "I'll be right back."

* * *

**-10 minutes later-**

The cerulean-blood dried her hands and stopped to massage her aching feet. Ice skating was fun, but god, did it make her feet hurt! She could probably only handle another fifteen or twenty minutes.

After fixing her hair, Vriska walked out of the bathroom and started back for the ice rink. She hoped John was ready to go soon as well; a few snowflakes landed on her glasses and she didn't want driving back to be difficult.

She rounded the corner and stopped. John had been waiting for her to finish…but not alone. She was short, a bit too pudgy, with her long blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail that didn't do anything for her face. And she was obviously flirting with John.

"Vriska!" John called, waving to his wife. The troll snapped out of her thoughts and squinted her eyes. "Come here!"

She forced herself to walk over to her husband and his "friend". "This is Kynsie," John told Vriska. "We went to school together."

"Hi!" Kynsie exclaimed, flipping her ponytail. "You must be Vriska! John talks about you all the time on Facebook!"

"H-Hi…" Vriska unenthusiastically nodded. Kynsie's squeaky voice hurt her ears, and just the name "Kynsie" was bad enough.

"Alright, well…" John turned back to Kynsie. "I think we're going to go now. We have a baby to pick up before going back home."

"Take care!" The perky, chubby, slightly unattractive blonde batted her eyelashes as she waved to the couple who were turning in their skates.

"What'd you think?" John asked, cranking the car. He smiled at his wife and began backing out of the parking space. "Did you like it?"

"Hmph." Vriska turned up her nose and pouted her lips.

"Vriska," John sighed. "I hated Kynsie in high school. I don't even know why she wanted to talk to me. I understand troll relationships are weird, but…you are my one and my only!" He instantly blushed and turned his head away. "That was really cheesy…I—I'm sorry…"

"It's fine." The troll sighed and looked out the window. "I just hope we can get home before it starts snowing even more."

"I'm sure we can." John smiled.

* * *

**-Saturday, December 24, 9:37 pm/John & Vriska's house/3 months old-**

"Ugh!" Vriska sighed, setting Casey's car seat down on the counter. "I can't believe she cried throughout the entire church service! And, of course she's sound asleep now…"

John patted his wife's shoulder. "Why don't you run a bath? I'll put her down, and they I'll be there."

"Okay." Vriska yawned and walked over to the cabinet. "I'm gonna make some hot chocolate first, okay?"

John nodded and gently lifted sleeping Casey out of her car seat.

* * *

**-10 minutes later-**

Sipping her hot chocolate, Vriska sat in the tub of steaming water and waited for her husband to join her. Casey had just resumed crying, and since Vriska was soaking wet, she couldn't do anything about it.

A few minutes later, John finally entered the bathroom and immediately stripped. "Okay," he sighed, immersing his naked body into the tub. "Let's pray she doesn't cry again for a few hours."

Vriska laughed nervously and took another sip of her cocoa. John didn't respond, and soon the married couple was sitting in the bath in an awkward silence.

"Well," Vriska said to break the silence. "I'm sitting here, with a human that I've mated with, in a giant tub of water, drinking hot choclety milk."

John laughed. "I can tell you're tired. Don't worry, I am too."

Vriska sighed and set the mug on the side of the tub. "I'm just worried we didn't get enough things for Casey."

"Vris, she's a baby, she doesn't care. And besides, it's her first Christmas. It's supposed to be small." John smiled at his wife. "Everything's going to be perfect."

* * *

**-Sunday, December 25, 10:02 am/John & Vriska's house-**

"Merry Christmas!" Mr. Egbert exclaimed, stepping over the threshold at his son and daughter-in-law's house. He was carrying a bag filled to the brim with gifts. "How are you, John?"

"I'm okay," John replied, shrugging. "Casey just woke up, and Vriska's in the living room feeding her."

"Alrighty then." Mr. Egbert smiled and set the bag down on the kitchen table.

"Oh, I started a roast yesterday," he told his father, nodding to the Crockpot on the counter. "It should be ready before noon."

"That's great." John's dad paused. "Is there anything else you need help with?"

"And the last one's for Miss Casey…" Mr. Egbert handed a tiny wrapped gift to Vriska, who enthusiastically showed it to her daughter.

"This one's from Grandpa, Casey!" Vriska exclaimed, beginning to unwrap the present for Casey. Inside was a tiny white teddy bear with a pink bow around its neck.

"Casey, look!" John grabbed the stuffed bear off of his wife's lap to show it to his daughter. "Do you like it?"

The three-month-old swatted at the bear, knocking it from her father's hands and onto her stomach. She didn't seem to react other than that, which was probably a good sign.

Everyone laughed, and Vriska turned to her husband and father-in-law. "Well, I guess that's all of them."

"Wait, wait, wait!" John smiled, then reached into his back pocket. "I got you one more thing…"

Vriska took the small velvety blue box from John's hands and opened it. She smiled as she looked at what was inside. A sterling silver necklace, the pendant inscribed with the words  _I will always love you_.

She smiled and looked up at John. "Oh, John, I love it! Thank you so much!"

John laughed, giving his wife a hug. "You're welcome, babe. This Christmas has been perfect."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheesy endings are cheesy.


	35. Epilogue

**-Friday, January 27, 5:09 pm/John & Vriska's house/4 months old-**

Vriska finished wiping off the counter and threw the dirty Clorox wipe into the trash. She looked out the kitchen window for any sign of Karkat and Terezi coming over. The Vantases' front door was beginning to open, which was a good sign. Vriska was starving, and the aromatic scent of steak coming from the table wasn't helping.

John was in the living room playing with Casey. At four months old, she was making remarkable progress since her birth, and was growing bigger (and cuter) by the day. Her sleeping schedule had become slightly more normal, too—a huge bonus for John and Vriska.

Vriska had gotten used to working again, and had put forth almost twice the effort she had before so she could make more money for Casey. It wasn't that hard to, either; waitressing at seven months pregnant wasn't really a good idea.

The doorbell rang just as Vriska was putting her hair up into a ponytail. "I've got it!" she called, trying her hair off and jogging to the front door.

"Hey," she sighed, opening the door for Karkat and Terezi. "Dinner's already on the table, so I'll just grab John and Casey and then we'll eat."

While the cerulean-blooded troll went into the living room to call her husband and daughter, the Vantases hurried into the kitchen and sat down at the table. While the steak, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables smelled absolutely delightful to Terezi, she had other things on her mind.

"When should we tell them?" she asked Karkat, practically jumping out of her skin.

"Hey, hey, hey," he whispered to his wife. "We'll tell them when the right time comes up."

Vriska came back into the kitchen with John, Casey in her arms. "Sorry to keep you waiting," she told the couple as she slid Casey into her high chair. "Alright, let's eat."

The four began to eat, chatting along the way. "What have you guys been up to?" John asked Karkat and Terezi with curiosity. "How's your internship going, Terezi?"

"It's…an internship." Terezi sighed before stuffing her mouth with vegetables yet again. "Right now all I do is deliver stuff to peoples' offices. Of course, almost everyone there says they did that once, so…" She let her sentence trail off before scooping up about half of her mashed potato pile.

John nodded in understandment, but was also shocked at Terezi's sudden change in table manners.  _Maybe trolls are just naturally like that_ , he thought. He was about to say something, but Casey began to fuss.

"Casey…" Vriska sighed with frustration and stood up to get a bottle out of the fridge.

"Does she cry a lot?" Terezi asked John, staring at the infant now in Vriska's arms.

"Not too much," Vriska replied, sticking the bottle into her daughter's tiny mouth. "Enough to be annoying, though."

The teal-blood scooped another mound of mashed potatoes onto her plate with no concern. "How much does she sleep?"

"I don't even know, it's only several hours at a time, sometimes not even that."

"Does she do anything besides—"

"Terezi." Karkat put his hand on his wife's knee and tried his best to look into her eyes. "Manners."

"Gosh," John laughed, picking up his fork. "With all the food you're eating, you'd think that you guys are finally having a kid."

Terezi glanced at Karkat, a smirk appearing on her face. After an agreeing nod from him, she looked back at John and Vriska.

"Well,  _actually_ …"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TO BE CONTINUED...
> 
> Actually, I plan on posting the sequel now. I think I took this way too seriously, but it keeps me occupied and I'm having fun doing it.
> 
> The sequel is called "Our Little Miracle" (stupid title but it works).


End file.
